Doctor Who: The Doctor's Daughter

[vilakins]

And now I've caught up with Doctor Who.

Those cloning machines are clever: they not only grow a person, but also provide clothing, makeup and hair accessories, and portable adrenaline and soma hookahs. I'd like to have been told more about the Hath. They were obviously liquid-breathing creatures with gills, but how did they communicate and why are they paired with humans for the planet? Will they colonise the oceans perhaps?

A 7-day war sounds rather brief. What happened to the original colonists and how did they start a war so quickly? I suppose if it was so many generations on, soldiers only lived hours at most, so they'd be programmed not to mind dying. I was still moved by the Hath's sacrifice for a member of a species it had been programmed to hate.

Yay for Donna once again, not just being tough and sensible, but also very intelligent. She's obviously very adaptable and a fast learner in her temp jobs, and she's finally found a job that's worthy of her. I fear for her though. Saying she's staying on for ever means she'll be killed off unless she changes her mind. :-(

Hmm, that 'source' terraformer was almost as fast as the Genesis Device in The Wrath of Khaaaaaaan, but hey. Advanced tech and all that.

I expected Jenny to regenerate, and of course Martha didn't realise she had two hearts and was physically a Timelord. My thought is that she's insurance for the future: when they run out of regenerations in two Doctors' time, they'll have another almost new one to use. And female at that. :-)

Comments

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

but how did they communicate

I wondered why the Tardis wasn't translating them as usual

[vandonovan.livejournal.com]

I did figure the TARDIS was translating them. Martha seemed to understand the Hath she was with, eventually. But it is weird. It bothered me that a FISH drowned though. I really thought it was sinking into the water to push her out, and she'd cry, and then later it'd resurface from the water and save the day somehow. Sigh.

It isn't my favorite of the season, but it could have been much worse. I love Donna something fierce. :)

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I didn't think she could understand them, though I didn't know why. It seemed they could understand her, at least after the opening scene in which she was telling the soldier to keep still so she could tackle his shoulder, but that could be explained if the human colonists spoke something similar to English.

I noticed that in the Confidential documentary, in Martha's scenes with the Hath someone shouted out what the Hath was saying (stuff like "I will not let you drown!" and "Goodbye, friend!"). And I wasn't quite sure why they were doing this, because if Martha wasn't supposed to understand it, why did Freema need to know what it was?

I was expecting the Hath to re-emerge, but I suppose breathing in a noxious bog is different from breathing in water. And it was one of those sucking-you-in bogs, which may have meant it was immobilised once it had gone under. But let's hope that, like Jenny, it re-emerged somewhere else safe and well without the crew of the Tardis finding out.

[kerravonsen]

Yeah, I was expecting it to resurface too: fish breathe water... but maybe it couldn't breathe quicksand.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I don't think it was water; Martha could get out of that. I think it was meant to be mud, or it was mud under the water, and a fish couldn't breathe or move properly in that.

It wasn't the best, and I don't always comment, but I just wonder if they're covering themselves for when they run out of Doctors. And I adore Donna. I thought Martha was wonderful but Donna rules.

There's a Steven Moffat double ep coming up after the next one and that should be wonderful; his dominate my favourites list.

[bramblyhedge.livejournal.com]

And she's Peter Davison's real daughter, which in my (deranged)mind does make her the Doctor's daughter. XD

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I got quite excited when I noticed the episode was directed by one Alice Troughton, but it seems she's no relation.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yes, that was a nice touch!

[emurphy42.livejournal.com]

when they run out of regenerations in two Doctors' time

Three. (12 regenerations = 13 incarnations.) Still, if the Master was somehow able to get a new set (above and beyond the multiple counts of body-snatching)...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks. Well, three might take a while.

[richenda.livejournal.com]

The subtitles told me that there was breaking glass as the hath sank - so it lost its brething system.
Someoen suggested somewhere that Martha and the Hath were communicating with body language.
I thought that the point (made in the Confidential0 about shouting what the hath was saying was to synchronize the action rather than to suggest that Martha could understand what it was saying

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yes, that makes sense. Unfortunately I don't see the Confidential; internet access here is capped and I'd go over the limit.