(no subject)

[rynne]

Happy May Day! I love May. :D Totally my favorite month.

I was listening to The Stowaway today, and one of the lines just caught my attention. Also includes some talk about the other Christmas special songs.


The last two stanzas of The Stowaway (bolded mine).

I think of him now and again
I wonder how his journey ends
As I sail by on my lonesome sea
That stranger with the haunting face
Here then gone without a trace
Lying with his love, that's where he'll be.

"Beg, borrow or steal
I'll find a way
To be with my lover next Christmas Day
And I'll run and I'll roam
I'll cover the ground
Next Christmas I'll see you
I'll be around."

The title of the S4 finale is "Journey's End". This song implies that the stowaway's journey ends with him lying with his love. And since the Doctor is the stowaway in Voyage of the Damned...

Normally I'd think I'm reaching, but I've noticed that the previous two songs sorta set the tone for the season that followed them. Song for Ten's theme seems to be "seize the day because it can't last", and that's definitely the vibe I got from S2. Love Don't Roam is all about the speaker missing his beloved, which is a recurring theme in S3.

Now here's The Stowaway, which is about finding your way back to your lover--and it has a line that's basically the title of the finale, with the strong implication that the journey ends with the lovers together. I might just be reading too much into things, but then again, I might not.

This is very frustrating. Structurally and thematically, it seems like we're being set up for an ending with the Doctor and Rose together. Pretty much every indication in the show itself that I can think of seems to point to that conclusion (and being an English major, with an English teacher for a mother, I've had a lot of practice analyzing this kind of thing). This kind of ending does go against decades of canon regarding companions, but if RTD cared about that, I doubt he would have set up the Doctor/Rose relationship the way he did. He also had no problem killing off Gallifrey and the Time Lords, which profoundly changed the Doctor. I don't think he really cares about the controversy of changing the character dynamics of the show from what it was in the classic series.

What keeps making me nervous is his quote in the Doomsday Confidential, about how the Doctor was getting too close to settling down, so he and Rose had to be separated. Unless something has really changed, that doesn't bode well for the reunion lasting beyond the finale. What also makes me nervous is how cracky RTD can be (Jesus!Tinkerbell!Doctor, whyyyyy?), as well as me just trying not to get my hopes up too high.

*sigh* Sometimes being an optimist can be rather depressing. :p

Comments

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

*crosses fingers*

For the Doctor's sake, I'm hoping for a happy pause (if not a happy ending).

And there are ways that they could have the Doctor and Rose choose to be together but still have separate stories without her -- either the time fast-forward option or having Rose's fading in and out not be 'fixed' by the end of S4 would work.

[rynne.livejournal.com]

For the Doctor's sake, I'm hoping for a happy pause (if not a happy ending).

Yes. Sometimes it seems like the new series has just been one blow after another, and the poor guy really deserves a break.

And there are ways that they could have the Doctor and Rose choose to be together but still have separate stories without her -- either the time fast-forward option or having Rose's fading in and out not be 'fixed' by the end of S4 would work.

I would be happy with either of those. I'm just really hoping for something that won't make me look back on Doomsday as getting off lightly. At least there, we knew they weren't apart by choice, and people could write reunionfic without going radically AU.

[sheron]

*stumbles in randomly*

Aww, I really hope that you're right! I'm going to see about getting that song now to listen to.

[thunderemerald.livejournal.com]

Damn. That's what I get for watching VotD like... once... and not listening to lyrics. Because, you know, you're very right. I keep thinking, nah, D/R can't happen in THAT SENSE in canon, because it would be a totally different show!

But a different show than what? Right again -- the one where Gallifrey still existed. Since I wasn't a fan of the old show, I keep having to remind myself how drastic a step that must have been for older viewers....

[purplemonster77.livejournal.com]

Very nice pickup! Hope you're right. Everything really does seem to be heading towards a Doctor/Rose happily-ever-after. RTD has always said that he doesn't listen to the fans (I think he called them misquitoes buzzing around his head once) and I think he means the Classic fans who are very anti-Doctor/ANYONE. So things are definitely looking up for D/R!

[rynne.livejournal.com]

It's such a lovely song--you really should get it. :)

And I also hope I'm right! *crosses fingers*

[rynne.livejournal.com]

I've also only seen VotD once, but I'd heard The Stowaway before I saw it because I bought the S3 soundtrack, and that song is on it. (The soundtracks for this show are so awesome! :D)

One thing RTD has never seemed afraid to do is take the show in a different direction while still keeping it very Doctor Who. I'm watching the classic series now, and the new series has a very similar tone, and is definitely still DW, but we get a lot more depth in the characters now.

One of the constant themes of the show is change--the Doctor changes, the companions change, etc. There's a pretty external reason for those changes (actors wanting to move on), but that doesn't negate that one of the constants of DW is that there is change. Adding D/R in THAT SENSE would be a pretty radical change, admittedly, but not, I think, out of keeping with one of the show's essential themes.

[rynne.livejournal.com]

I keep finding things that make me optimistic, but I'm going to be so disappointed if I'm wrong, despite all the evidence I've found. :(

[sunnytyler001.livejournal.com]

"about how the Doctor was getting too close to settling down"
Remember what he said in LotTL "Maybe it's time I stop wandering". If the Master had lived, he would have stopped travelling.
And then in "Love don't roam"
"So reel me in, my precious girl
Come on, take me home
Cause my body’s tired of travelling
And my heart don’t wish to roam, yeah."

And now, after episode 6 of series 4 (if you know the spoilers, you know what I mean), I bet he'll want even more: a family.
Rose will come back just in time to give him all that.
Well, if RTD allows it...

[fairyfloss-love.livejournal.com]

Interesting, very interesting. I'll definitely stick with this. Hope is always better than despair.

And I am actually starting to believe we are going to get some kind of happy end. Maybe not in the 'traditional sense' but still something the D/R fans can live with.

[the-lucky-stars.livejournal.com]

This is very interesting. I'm sure it's got something to do with it, but also possibly with a line from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night:

"Journeys end in lovers meeting,
Every wise man's son doth know."

Twelfth Night (II, iii, 44-45)

[the-lucky-stars.livejournal.com]

(here via the_spdn, by the way!)

[thunderemerald.livejournal.com]

You know, I have the soundtracks, but haven't listened to them yet. Perhaps tonight....

I do think that if RTD played his hand right, he could add D/R and make people love it. I mean, hell, most of the fandom loves it already, and it isn't even canon! (At least not in That Sense.)