One More Time, Rose
Rose is back.
The very words bring back the memories of old. And something new. But it must be the same Rose who had travelled through time and space with the Doctor just well over a couple years ago.
Only she's hardend by recent experiences. She's older, perhaps angry. Behind those soft blue eyes, the flitter of life, is a calm of the storm. It is like a hurricane rushing towards us in spades. And Rose is right in the middle of it.
And so it tightens the plotlight even further since the very first episode of the fourth season of Doctor Who running with "Partners in Crime" when we hear with a shudder the mention of the Shadow Proclamation. Such an organization has stayed hidden in the background throughout the series as some passing references were made. And there is Rose stating something important, "The darkness is coming."
Plus an overall arc that's been going ever since the very first episode of the Doctor Who series in 2005 concerning the shadows.
"Left Turn" offers us a little rose. But she isn't the focus of the story. Neither is the Doctor who appears in the episode in but a few scenes in both the beginning and the end. The center stage is shifted, once again, and unexpectedly, to a new player in the ever expanding Doctor Who universe. Donna Noble.
The whole idea is that some moments of our lives can be determined by a single choice made by someone or yourself. Such a random choosing could lead to a lifetime of repercussions. What would have happened had some history detoured like a broken arrow? In this episode, the writer Russell T. Davies asks what would happen if Donna turned right instead of left like she should have.
Plenty does happen. And it's a life of Donna without the Doctor. She might not be an important person in the everday scheme of things. She loses her jobs, remains unoccupied despite attempts, mouths off to her employers. Then the cosmic contastrophes begin to happen around her such as alien invasions taking over the earth. Without a Doctor to intercede.
I have always liked Donna Noble and the actress Catherine Tate who played her ever since the beginning of this year. She gives hefty perfomances that gives the complexity of her character without going overboard. Yet she is able to indulge in her comedic routines every now and then. But it is her dramtic scenes which brings out those moments of humanity. It's great to see Bernard Cribbins get more scenes in "Turn Left" as he explands the grandfatherly character who is memorial as he is funny. Even Donna's mother figures into the episode more prominently. It's an interesting, close-knitted family.
This is an incredibly good episode as it is a well written from every angle. The desperate postulation that offers a different viewpoint... what would life be without the Doctor? That must be something that's been on everyone's mind. He is a central figure in the story without being seen too much. There are written scenes such as the grandfather looking out the window to see the destruction of London with the fear setting in his eyes or Donna's great outburts in the work office as she tells her boss to stuff it. These are great, boxed-in tidbits that play alongside a much grandiose storyline.
Donna Noble is an imporant person in the midst of things. She probably doesn't even know it. But she is the new anchor to the Doctor's roaming travels. She is his reason and conciousiness when things get to out of hand. She gives a peaceful moment of humanity when the Doctor feels a loneliness drowning him out. There are times when he feels very much like destroying himself just to step out of his long-winded, tired existence, growing bored of his godhood.
But Donna is there to bring him back. She's got enough guts to stand up for herself against the Doctor's many platitudes of destruction and gets her points across to him if need be. Donna remains his constant.
Then there is Rose.
She seems abandoned, cut off from her own. There are times when she seems neglected, oblivous, like a lost girl trying to regain her immortality. This is shown as she recreates her Bad Wolf messages out of existence once again. She is a messenger from the stars to the Doctor. Her continued warnings of the approaching darkness has finally come to a fixed point.
In the same way as the plot device seen in a film like Slaughterhouse Five, the character of Rose is seeing traveling back and forth in time. She is unstuck in the time. That would explain some of her disappearing acts in the first episode of season four "Partners in Crime" when she vanishes like a ghost. Perhaps a figment of imagination. However, due to the Doctor's absense, she has managed to find a way of tapping into the time travelling machine's energies. Along with the help of the military orgainzation UNIT, she could retool the machine into sending her back and forth through space. And time. Just like the Doctor.
Which is interesting. Rose has become something more than just a companion. She has become something of an equal. She is the Doctor's balance. The axis of her powers is something extraoridinary. That may be how she is able to send messages throughout the entire fourth season: glimpses of her seen through the TV screens all over the place. She is like a ghost in the machine trying to reach the Doctor. There's even a moment when she blasts away a Dalek with a high tech bazooka. She's not anyone to mess around anymore.
In some ways, she still loves him. It might not be evident here. But she still have thoughts of going on that cosmic honeymoon with the Doctor in the time travelling Police Box carrying them into a star-studded romance. That could never happen. Yet she still plays with the idea.
Rose is coming back with a vengeance for the rest of the season. It'll be interesting to know how changed she is. And what scars she might have since her wounded departure on those lofty sandy beaches where she last saw the images of the solitary man who is the love of her life.
She'll continue to catch up with the Doctor no matter what. She'll try to prove to him that she is someone not to be left behind. Perhaps she might even sacrifice herself to make peace with her long-lost loved one.
The very words bring back the memories of old. And something new. But it must be the same Rose who had travelled through time and space with the Doctor just well over a couple years ago.
Only she's hardend by recent experiences. She's older, perhaps angry. Behind those soft blue eyes, the flitter of life, is a calm of the storm. It is like a hurricane rushing towards us in spades. And Rose is right in the middle of it.
And so it tightens the plotlight even further since the very first episode of the fourth season of Doctor Who running with "Partners in Crime" when we hear with a shudder the mention of the Shadow Proclamation. Such an organization has stayed hidden in the background throughout the series as some passing references were made. And there is Rose stating something important, "The darkness is coming."
Plus an overall arc that's been going ever since the very first episode of the Doctor Who series in 2005 concerning the shadows.
"Left Turn" offers us a little rose. But she isn't the focus of the story. Neither is the Doctor who appears in the episode in but a few scenes in both the beginning and the end. The center stage is shifted, once again, and unexpectedly, to a new player in the ever expanding Doctor Who universe. Donna Noble.
The whole idea is that some moments of our lives can be determined by a single choice made by someone or yourself. Such a random choosing could lead to a lifetime of repercussions. What would have happened had some history detoured like a broken arrow? In this episode, the writer Russell T. Davies asks what would happen if Donna turned right instead of left like she should have.
Plenty does happen. And it's a life of Donna without the Doctor. She might not be an important person in the everday scheme of things. She loses her jobs, remains unoccupied despite attempts, mouths off to her employers. Then the cosmic contastrophes begin to happen around her such as alien invasions taking over the earth. Without a Doctor to intercede.
I have always liked Donna Noble and the actress Catherine Tate who played her ever since the beginning of this year. She gives hefty perfomances that gives the complexity of her character without going overboard. Yet she is able to indulge in her comedic routines every now and then. But it is her dramtic scenes which brings out those moments of humanity. It's great to see Bernard Cribbins get more scenes in "Turn Left" as he explands the grandfatherly character who is memorial as he is funny. Even Donna's mother figures into the episode more prominently. It's an interesting, close-knitted family.
This is an incredibly good episode as it is a well written from every angle. The desperate postulation that offers a different viewpoint... what would life be without the Doctor? That must be something that's been on everyone's mind. He is a central figure in the story without being seen too much. There are written scenes such as the grandfather looking out the window to see the destruction of London with the fear setting in his eyes or Donna's great outburts in the work office as she tells her boss to stuff it. These are great, boxed-in tidbits that play alongside a much grandiose storyline.
Donna Noble is an imporant person in the midst of things. She probably doesn't even know it. But she is the new anchor to the Doctor's roaming travels. She is his reason and conciousiness when things get to out of hand. She gives a peaceful moment of humanity when the Doctor feels a loneliness drowning him out. There are times when he feels very much like destroying himself just to step out of his long-winded, tired existence, growing bored of his godhood.
But Donna is there to bring him back. She's got enough guts to stand up for herself against the Doctor's many platitudes of destruction and gets her points across to him if need be. Donna remains his constant.
Then there is Rose.
She seems abandoned, cut off from her own. There are times when she seems neglected, oblivous, like a lost girl trying to regain her immortality. This is shown as she recreates her Bad Wolf messages out of existence once again. She is a messenger from the stars to the Doctor. Her continued warnings of the approaching darkness has finally come to a fixed point.
In the same way as the plot device seen in a film like Slaughterhouse Five, the character of Rose is seeing traveling back and forth in time. She is unstuck in the time. That would explain some of her disappearing acts in the first episode of season four "Partners in Crime" when she vanishes like a ghost. Perhaps a figment of imagination. However, due to the Doctor's absense, she has managed to find a way of tapping into the time travelling machine's energies. Along with the help of the military orgainzation UNIT, she could retool the machine into sending her back and forth through space. And time. Just like the Doctor.
Which is interesting. Rose has become something more than just a companion. She has become something of an equal. She is the Doctor's balance. The axis of her powers is something extraoridinary. That may be how she is able to send messages throughout the entire fourth season: glimpses of her seen through the TV screens all over the place. She is like a ghost in the machine trying to reach the Doctor. There's even a moment when she blasts away a Dalek with a high tech bazooka. She's not anyone to mess around anymore.
In some ways, she still loves him. It might not be evident here. But she still have thoughts of going on that cosmic honeymoon with the Doctor in the time travelling Police Box carrying them into a star-studded romance. That could never happen. Yet she still plays with the idea.
Rose is coming back with a vengeance for the rest of the season. It'll be interesting to know how changed she is. And what scars she might have since her wounded departure on those lofty sandy beaches where she last saw the images of the solitary man who is the love of her life.
She'll continue to catch up with the Doctor no matter what. She'll try to prove to him that she is someone not to be left behind. Perhaps she might even sacrifice herself to make peace with her long-lost loved one.
posted by K.M. Paters at 4:57 PM
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