The Rise of the Cybermen

[fan_elune]

Right, so I got the instant fangirling out in the previous post, let's try and watch this episode in a less overwhelmingly squeeful manner. Typed as I watched, again, because it's the way not to forget anything.

- Just the teaser, and I already know that bad guy is not gonna get any props from me. I mean, in the length of a two-minute teaser, they have managed to create the perfect cliché of the mad scientist. Is there any hint of a third dimension to this character? Nope. Flat, flat, flat. Which is a shame, because with a voice like that, he could've been a potentially very intriguing villain.

- I love the way David plays having forgotten Mickey. Such a bastard, but not because he's cruel. And before that it's Rose and the Doctor on crack again, and we've got Mickey playing the part of the audience, '...huh? Let me share in the fun!'-like. Except he can't, and neither can we, and that's why their good mood in Tooth and Claw fell so flat. We don't see what's so funny. They're in their own world, and it just leaves us very uneasy because we're not invited. I'm not saying it's bad writing, on the contrary! I'm convinced it's done on purpose.

- Yay for Pete! Although, Rose, please, some day, learn from your mistakes? It puzzles me how much I enjoyed her character last year, despite my preconceptions, and how much she annoys me this season when I expected to like her still. It's probably due, in part, to how much the Doctor encourages the cracktitude, but still. And now he's trying to get her to take him seriously, as he warns her about her father and seeing him again, but will she? Of course not. She can't. He's encouraged the cracktitude/brattitude too much. Besides, they always wander off.

- I really, really enjoy Pete and Jackie. They're still the same, even with money. Jackie's almost chilling, in how similar she is to the one we know, because it feels like the one we know could really have been this vapid, shallow, self-centered woman. Our Jackie's much more with the love.

- *snorts* Our resident villain just made me think of Malcolm in the Middle's Stevie. It's rather unfortunate.

- Cue sinister music and backing-up black lorry. Oh I am so scared.

- DON'T KICK THE TARDIS. Also, Mickey, I care about what might tempt you.

- Did the presentator on Rose's cell phone mention Torchwood as his voice faded away? Did I just dream that? ...no, no he did. "The Torchwood Institute published a study" and it fades away. Which means that at some point, there was a fork, and two earths were created, ours and this one, but that they have as a common ancestor the earth which Rose and the Doctor visited, where Torchwood was created to, among other things, keep the Doctor away. Interesting. Also, why would they be mentioning Torchwood on the news? Isn't it supposed to be rather secret? We'll blame it on it being one more difference from our earth, but it feels like one more forced mention of the Institute.

- Yay Mickey for being a comic book fan!

- I like this moment between Mickey and the Doctor. It's very quiet, and you see the surprise on Mickey's face that the Doctor would be talking to him like this, actually sharing. Very nice touch, also, the Doctor wiping a hand on his face when Mickey asks how they got here. It shows, more than anything else, how in over his head the Doctor is.

- I like Mr. Crane. His delivery is very interesting, there's... something, about him. Something peculiar. I also like that guy's accent, the rebel one. And that guy trying to run away looked very, very fake.

- Oh, I love that grin on the Doctor's face, when he recharges the power. And that kiss to the little light thing, too. Ten years of his life, huh. My first thought when I saw this segment was, "he's such a lunatic." And he is. And oh how I love him.

- Oh, god, Rose. *eyeroll* So what if you don't exist. Have you never watched Sliders? It's a parallel fucking universe. Stop being so emo.

- I luuurve Mickey standing up and heading off, too, knowing precisely what he's doing, and the Doctor being so not in control of the situation. He can't make do with two humans, and he's supposed to be 'the higher authority'? Tsk. And god, Mickey, you are right, but I care, even if he doesn't. (Also, Mickey, you kinda sound like you have a bit of a mancrush on the Doctor. "You can only chase after one of us and it's never gonna be me, is it?" Heh.) "Yeah. If I haven't found something better." Yay Mickey! That said, it's really interesting, that shift from wanting Rose's attention to wanting the Doctor's. I wonder what it's about, if anything beside a testimony, once again, to Ten's charisma.

- They have a Black President. Who might or might not be setting off my gaydar. Way to go!

- Mickey backstory! I like that the Doctor actually realised, from Mickey's words, that maybe he should stop and wonder who Mickey is, because he doesn't know anything about him. And it makes a lot of sense that Mickey's been on his own for a while now, that he's had people abandoning him one way or the other all his life. Yes, Rose, you do take him for granted.

- Creepy immobile moment. I like when they all laugh, it's a nice touch. And eeep, the glasses! Love the glasses, always.

- She is rubbing herself against him, okay? Really makes a gal wonder what is going on in the TARDIS.

- Yay for the grandma! And of course it's RICKY. NINE I LOVE YOU. I love that smile on his face, like he's thinking of Nine too, and then going "of course it's Ricky."

- Aaaand again with the kid with the wonderful accent.

- I really like this President. For the record. He's no-nonsense, and yet he's nothing special, if you know what I mean? He's just this honest, righteous, brave man, who happens to be President and won't take any bullshit. But he's not Martin Sheen either, you know? Just a good man.

- "You're a great businessman, John. But you're not God." Here's for our religious theme of the story. I really, really can't wait to see what this is all building up to.

- Of course Mr. Crane's having fun. See what I mean? It's irresistible. And he listens to "The lion sleeps tonight". The writers are positively INSANE. And I LOVE THEM.

- Now, maybe this will be covered in the second part, but. Why does Lumic claim that he does this to survive? If that were the case, why doesn't he simply get himself in one of these exoskelettons, and leave the rest of the world be? It's the second time he's mentioned survival as his motive, I find it highly dubious.

- Oh, that accent. (Yes, I'll keep mentioning it each time.) Aaaand it's Ricky with the Scowl of Doom.

- "You wanna know what's going on, work in the kitchens." I can only think of Gosford Park. So, so true. Also, Rose mentioning "Sir Doctor, Dame Rose", like it's a good memory, and that's what it is to her. This is what I'm talking about. Sir Doctor and Dame Rose got banished from Great Britain, and Sir Doctor and Dame Rose did not give a damn about all the lives lost to a werewolf, Sir Doctor and Dame Rose were utterly amused by the whole thing. And if Sir Doctor and Dame Rose had introduced themselves as such, for all we know Torchwood might have been notified and they might have got picked up and then where would that leave them I wonder.

- Of course the Doctor would get friendly. Take after him, Rose! And don't be jealous. This Doctor's a bit of a womaniser. Get used to it. (Might also be a maniser for all we know. Eh Mickey?)

- And Rose is being emo again. "She's got you, these ones haven't," says the Doctor, except Jackie doesn't have Rose, because you've taken her away from her, you great bloody pillock! Just sayin'.

- I adore that he would laugh about the dog. He's so heartless sometimes. And I'm right there with him.

- The cybermen have flare legs. They're fashionable. Yay!

- You know, I'd never thought of Mickey as yum before. But laid out like that in his boxers? Yum. (And there goes the accent again!) Ricky, stop fucking scowling. Even Wat doesn't scowl that much. And Mickey's got a tattoo, and I'd love a closer look at it. ...I love Mickey's kitchen remark, too. Heh. And so they're leaving, and instead of leaving the weird Ricky-clone behind they're taking him with them why?

- The Doctor's carrying his glasses around in his pocket, no case, and they never get broken. Can I get the same, really?

- Love the Pete/Rose moment. Of course Pete'd be the kind that talks to the staff. And I like that he shares this much with her, and is so instinctive about things. Oh, Pete. You're the same.

- And there we go with the Torchwood mention again seriously guys this is not getting old it's carbon-fucking-dated by now!

- I love Jackie's reaction to Rose. Much more realistic than Pete's, of course, but both just as real.

- So, I'd really like the backstory on those cybermen. The ones from the old series, I mean. Because - how come these look the same as the ones the Doctor has seen before (presumably)? Does it have to do with how come the TARDIS crashed on this earth? Is there more at work here than meets the eye?

- I love this play between the President and the Doctor. What if I refuse / don't.

- And of course Pete's first thought is for Jackie. Oh, I love Pete.

- I'm not sure what the Doctor running is all about. "There's nothing we can do!" There probably is nothing they can do, so it might be pragmatic, but it also feels very cold. As is "she's not your mother!" because, Rose's mother or not, she's still a person, and those are people being "deleted" inside the house. Parallel universe or not.

- The Doctor's in his converse shoes. Which I love, and it's so him, but did the psychic paper distract whoever's in charge of the waiting staff from the absolutely inappropriate sneakers?

- Rose, he's not Mickey, he's scowling.

- Oh, I love how intense he gets about surrendering, and how they don't give a flying fuck.

In conclusion: I can't wait for next week's!

Okay, that's not a very deep conclusion, but it has the advantage of being very, very true.