further adventures in the land of Classic Who

[ladymercury_10]

So I watched "Remembrance of the Daleks," and basically I was, as shinyjenni would say, making little fists of glee the whole way through.  Oh my goodness.  I know I say it all the time, but I love this show.  Entertaining background lady scientists!  Bechdel test passing!  The Doctor, for once, managing to be less impractical about money than the companion!  Power-synth music and other 80s tropes for childhood nostalgia and great justice!  Ahem. *straightens sweater, calms down*


But pretty much everything I was told would be there by the people who commented on the last post was there: the Doctor being an adult and not whining, Ace kicking tail, and a very entertaining mixture of well-written serious bits, perhaps accidentally campy bits (was Davros wearing old-school curly telephone wire?), and lots of intentionally playful bits.  (Thanks to everyone who told me I should watch it--you were right!) 

And Ace and Seven are fantastic.  Somebody on Tumblr was saying that Ace is like the Strong Female Character archetype done correctly, i.e., not exaggerated.  Much as I love some of the characters who take flak for supposedly being exaggeratedly strong and/or being one-dimensional, I think this is a pretty good characterization of Ace and her awesomeness.  

Also, I hyena laughed at Ace's Dalek racial purity explanation, reconstructed with help from olivia_sutton's quotes page:

Ace: Renegade Daleks are blobs.  

The Doctor: Blobs?

Ace: Imperial Daleks are bionic blobs with bits added.  You can tell the Daleks are into racial purity.  So one lot of Daleks reckon that the other lot of blobs are too different.  Well, they're mutants.  Not pure in their blobbiness.

The Doctor: Result?

Ace: They hate each other's chromosomes.  War to the death.

The Doctor: Well, um, Ace, let’s go and see which blobs are winning, hmm?

ALSO also I am relatively certain Ace was wearing Batman earrings for the duration of the episode.  See here:

 
So, uh, what do I watch next, guys?  I mean, Fenric, but what else?  And does anyone have any Seven-era fanfic recs to share?  (Probably nothing too long--if I'm going to read something above 10k, it's probably going to be one of the bajillion library books I have on my desk already.)

Comments

[betawho.livejournal.com]

Remembrance of the Daleks is awesome. And I agree, Ace is the strong female done right. She's strong, but she's a real person, not a hyped up version. She gets hurt, gets scared, but still does what needs to be done. And kicks ass, but in a way that we could, if we were brave enough.

And, yeah, I love some of the explanations in Classic Who, it's done in simple, fun language, but it conveys serious ideas. Racial purity, chromosomes, advanced tech. And then it has the Doctor rewiring a transmat so a Dalek will blow itself up if it tries to use it, by having one half materialize where the other half was.

And I completely agree about, "Doctor being an adult and not whining." I think that is the one thing from Classic I miss the most, the Doctor could be carefree, but still be an adult, could be deep and serious, but not be moping or whining. I miss an adult Doctor.

There's loads more of Classic to enjoy. Are you just concentrating on the 7th Doctor era or are you open to other suggestions too? If so, I'd suggest "Horror of Fang Rock" with 4 and Leela.

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Ace is a good companion because she gets really obviously scared, but at the same time she buckles down and does whatever she has to. "In a way that we could, if we were brave enough," is a good way to put it, and I think that's at the heart of what makes a lot of the best companion moments--ordinary people choosing to be brave enough.

The Doctor being more grown-up and less self-pitying is something elisi told me to watch for. And I do love Eleven and Ten and how goofy and petulant they are, but it is quite nice for a change to have a Doctor you don't feel someone needs to babysit. :P

I think I'll probably stick to Seven for now--I still have a bunch of RTD Who to catch up on as well, as I never quite finished all of it. I have seen a little bit of Four, though--before Seven, my only Classic Who experience had been "Pyramids of Mars" and "City of Death."