aimeekitty

Day 03 – Your Favorite New Series Episode

This was extremely hard for me to pic my favorite New!Who episode. I actually got like... "re-sad" just trying to choose and thinking about these heart-tugging moments in Doctor Who.

I'm going to go with:
"The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit"

I actually had to sit here for a minute before I could even say anything about this episode(s). IT'S THAT GOOD. I would be so proud to have worked on television like this. Hopefully one day I will. I love epic stories. There's nothing I would change about it... and even with stuff I really like, there's almost always something that bugs me or that I would change. Not in this two-parter.
There are several of the finale multi-parters where there are PARTS of those episodes that just blow me away, that make me cry, that make me think... but in pretty much all of them there are parts that are (imho) poorly written or have big plot holes or just aren't as great. This, to me, isn't the case with The Impossible Planet/ Satan Pit.

I chose this episode for several reasons:
- love the whole plot/story
- the relationship between Rose and the Doctor in this episode.
- how the events of the episode question the Doctor's rules and belief systems
- the overall tension and suspense in the episode
- the general design of the sets and monsters, etc.
- the music is so good it makes your skin prickle.
- Rose's jacket is the best. <3

There's this strong feeling of "something really bad is here" from the start of the episode. The way it's set on this sparse make-shift spacestation, that in itself makes your skin prickle. Rose and the Doctor are taken away from the TARDIS. You get the feeling more than most of the other Doctor Who episodes,... that the companion and the Doctor are just as helpless as the other humans in the same situation. (I also REALLY REALLY liked the episode "42" for this reason.) They're stuck, they're vulnerable, and they can't "run away" with the TARDIS. In fact when Rose and the Doctor first land and they consider getting back in the TARDIS and leaving... they laugh out loud at the thought. There's an ominous feeling there, too... like maybe Rose and the Doctor are getting a bit too cocky...? Something about laughing at a god, perhaps...?

The Doctor: [talking about the TARDIS] I don’t know what is wrong with her, she's sort of... queasy, indigestion... like she didn't want to land.
Rose: [deadpan] Well if you think that's gonna be trouble, we can always get back inside and go somewhere else.
[beat. The Doctor and Rose then start laughing.]

THE MUSIC. (I'll talk more about this later). but... GUH:

When the Doctor actually thinks that the TARDIS may be completely lost... the look on his face at being "trapped". What is the Doctor without the TARDIS? And it's not just about being trapped on the space station, it's about being trapped in one time. It's an interesting sort of revelation of the Doctor's character. And then Rose's reaction to that... her gentle suggestion that maybe they could settle down together. A place with carpet. It's just adorable, sad and touching all at the same time.

"Rose: Can you build another Tardis?
The Doctor: They were grown, not built. And with my home planet gone... we're kind of stuck
Rose: Well, it could be worse; this lot said they'd give us a lift.
The Doctor: And then what?
Rose: I don't know. Find a planet, get a job, live a life, same as the rest of the universe.
The Doctor: I'll have to settle down. With a house or something - a proper house with... with, with doors and things - carpets! Me! Living in a house!... Now that, that - that is terrifying.
Rose: You'd have to get a mortgage!
The Doctor: No!
Rose: Oh yes!
The Doctor: No, I'm dying, that's it, it is all over.
Rose: What about me? I'd have to get one too!
[pause]
Rose: I don't know, we could have the same one, we could both... I don't know, share... or not. Whatever. I don't know, all sorts of...
The Doctor: Anyway
Rose: We'll see
The Doctor: [pause] I promised Jackie I'd always take you back home
Rose: Everyone leaves home in the end.
The Doctor: Not to end up stuck here.
Rose: Yeah, but stuck with you - that's not so bad.
The Doctor: Yeah?
Rose: Yes. "

At this point.... they've already told us that The Doctor can't settle down, can't get too attached. Everyone he loves dies eventually and he lives on (School Reunion) but you feel the Doctor's struggle here. You can tell that he's already attached to Rose despite his rules.

And then we get the warning that Rose might die in battle.
The Beast: And the lost girl, so far away from home. The valiant child, who will die in battle so very soon...

Rose: It said I would die in battle.
The Doctor: Then it lied.

But when we get something bad lurking in the depths of the planet that may or may not be Satan? OoOOooOoOo, even more suspense.

The Doctor: You get representations of the horned Beast right across the universe in myths and legends of a million worlds. Earth, Draconia, Vel Consadine, Daemos... The Kaled god of war, the same image, over and over again. Maybe, that idea came from somewhere. Bleeding through, a thought of every sentient mind...
Ida Scott: Originating from here?
The Doctor: Could be.
Ida Scott: But if this is the original, does that make it real? Does that make it the actual Devil?
The Doctor: Well, if that's what you want to believe. Maybe that's what the Devil is, in the end. An idea.

They separate the Doctor and Rose, and unlike other episodes where this happens... you really feel like one of them might die, or that they may never be able to get back together. Rose feels extremely vulnerable. At one point, she's on a small ship rocketing away from the planet (where the Doctor and the TARDIS are)... you just get such a strong feeling of Rose being all alone. You imagine what's going to happen to her stranded in this time/place without anyone she knows, without the Doctor. It makes you think. She is more concerned about what will happen to the Doctor, though.

And then the Doctor himself is stranded on the planet without his companion, without the TARDIS.
Just the design of the pit area alone... it's very Mignola. I love it.

and he CHOOSES to jump into this possibly bottomless pit that just might have Satan at the bottom of it. He feels compelled to see what it is, even though he may not come out.
"The Doctor: Oh, oh in a second! But then again... That's so human. Where angels fear to tread... Even now, standing on the edge, it's that feeling you get, yea? Right at the back of your head. That impulse... That strange little impulse... That mad little voice saying, "Go on! Go on! Go on!... Go over! Go on!..." Maybe it's relying on that... For once in my life, Officer Scott, I'm going to say... retreat. Ugh, now I know I'm getting old.

But then he decides to jump... it's almost like an act of faith... or is it madness? That's the Doctor, right? Slightly mad...?

The Doctor: If they get back in contact - if you talk to Rose - just tell her... tell her... oh, she knows"

and then when he faces the beast, the beast questions his belief system. (very much like Satan, isn't it?) Just brilliant. The Doctor thinks he knows everything about all of time and space, or he knows a hell of a lot... we see some cracks in that here. He hasn't seen everything. And we as a viewer are left not knowing, even at the end of the episode whether it was really Satan or not. (and it's better that way)...

The Doctor: If you are the Beast, then answer me this: Which one? Because the universe has been busy since you've been gone. There are more religions than there are planets in the sky. The Arkiphetes, quoldonity, christianity, pash-pash, new judaism, Saint Claar, Church of the Teen Vagabond. Which devil are you?
The Beast: All of them.

The Doctor: You can't have come from before the universe. That's impossible.
The Beast: Is that YOUR religion?
The Doctor: It's a belief.

--------

But the Doctor DOES know he believes in Rose. You really see the strength of their relationship the best in this episode, I think.

Also it's the first episode where we get the OOD for the first time.

Ida Scott: Really, though, Doctor. Who are you?
The Doctor: Oh... the stuff of legends.

STUFF OF LEGENDS YOU GUYS. STUFF OF LEGENDS.

Some of my other top Doctor Who episodes (in no particular order):
Blink
The Girl in the Fireplace
42
Human Nature/Family of Blood
Doomsday
Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways
The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
Midnight
Silence in the Library/ Forest of the Dead

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Day 01 - Your Favorite Quote
Day 02 – Your Favorite Classic Series Episode
Day 03 – Your Favorite New Series Episode
Day 04 – Your Favorite Doctor
Day 05 – Your Favorite Companion
Day 06 – Whatever Tickles Your Fancy
Day 07 – Your Favorite Piece of Music
Day 08 – A Who-Related Photo That Makes You Happy
Day 09 – A Who-Related Photo That Makes You Angry/Sad
Day 10 – A Who-Related Photo That You Took
Day 11 – Your Favorite Season (Classic or New)
Day 12 – Whatever Tickles Your Fancy
Day 13 – Your Favorite Villain
Day 14 – The Villain Who Scared You the Most
Day 15 – Favorite Who-Related Tumblr
Day 16 – Your Favorite Who-Related FanFic
Day 17 – A Piece of Who-Related FanArt
Day 18 – Whatever Tickles Your Fancy
Day 20 – The Character Who Is Most Like You
Day 21 – Your Doctor Who OTP
Day 22 – A Who-Related Fan-Site
Day 23 – A Who-Related YouTube Video
Day 24 – Whatever Tickles Your Fancy
Day 25 – Favorite Who Actor
Day 26 – Favorite Who Actress
Day 27 – An Episode You Wish Hadn’t Been Made
Day 28 – An Episode Idea You Created Yourself
Day 29 – Who You Think Should Be the Next Doctor
Day 30 – Whatever Tickles Your Fancy