Why I like Bad Wolf
by special request for that same anon
"Bad Wolf" are the Arc Words to Series 1/Season 27. They are in fact one of the first examples of Arc Words as a trope - a phrase or other set of words that is tied to a story arc in some yet-to-be-revealed way. The words "bad wolf" are scattered across the season in a variety of disparate locations...not all of them English. On first viewing, it's set as sort of a challenge to the viewer, a way to participate - can you pick up on the pattern before the characters do? You get a wonderful sense of triumph from picking up on something genuinely kind of subtle and then being right. It's the same sort of enjoyment you can get from Mysteries - the satisfaction of being slightly cleverer, of figuring it out. On repeated viewings, it becomes a nice little easter egg - can you find them all?
They're also the first use in Doctor Who of the now popular conceit of effects preceding causes. It kind of makes sense - the show is about Time Travel, and what fun is that if you don't use it to violate causality. "Bad Wolf," like the clues about "Mr. Saxon" or the cracks in time or everything to do with Clara, is the direct result of events that take place in the season finale. Of these, "Bad Wolf" is really the most nebulous, being significant simply as a reminder from Rose to herself that the plot has not yet been resolved. Their significance is that they are significant. As such, the words themselves don't really matter. As a wise person once pointed out, scattering the words "get yourself a big yellow truck" instead might have been a bit more practical, though admittedly not nearly as cryptic.
Speaking of the big yellow truck, most of the time you rip open part of the TARDIS you get TARDIS guts. When Rose does it, she turns herself into a sort of a freaky goddess thing, incidentally also called the Bad Wolf. When I first saw the episode, I took this as corroborative evidence of my long held belief that the TARDIS herself is actually the main character of the show, and in "the Parting of Ways" was for some reason struck with the desire to become a Real Girl. (She's the last of her kind too, you know). It backfired so horribly that she vowed never to try it again, and has been rather better behaved since. And the best thing about this is that Neil Gaiman had the decency to go ahead and make it completely canon. Thanks Neil!
"Bad Wolf" represents a new type of story telling, and one which the show has very much embraced. It's a neat variant on the Write Back to the Future and Note To Self tropes, as well as a fun little hint that you can pick up on, but that you can't possibly decipher (the phrase being totally contentless). It piques the interest without giving you enough information to actually call the ending, only to be validated for picking up the right clues. And it violates causality, which is really what Time Travel is all about.
"Bad Wolf" are the Arc Words to Series 1/Season 27. They are in fact one of the first examples of Arc Words as a trope - a phrase or other set of words that is tied to a story arc in some yet-to-be-revealed way. The words "bad wolf" are scattered across the season in a variety of disparate locations...not all of them English. On first viewing, it's set as sort of a challenge to the viewer, a way to participate - can you pick up on the pattern before the characters do? You get a wonderful sense of triumph from picking up on something genuinely kind of subtle and then being right. It's the same sort of enjoyment you can get from Mysteries - the satisfaction of being slightly cleverer, of figuring it out. On repeated viewings, it becomes a nice little easter egg - can you find them all?
They're also the first use in Doctor Who of the now popular conceit of effects preceding causes. It kind of makes sense - the show is about Time Travel, and what fun is that if you don't use it to violate causality. "Bad Wolf," like the clues about "Mr. Saxon" or the cracks in time or everything to do with Clara, is the direct result of events that take place in the season finale. Of these, "Bad Wolf" is really the most nebulous, being significant simply as a reminder from Rose to herself that the plot has not yet been resolved. Their significance is that they are significant. As such, the words themselves don't really matter. As a wise person once pointed out, scattering the words "get yourself a big yellow truck" instead might have been a bit more practical, though admittedly not nearly as cryptic.
Speaking of the big yellow truck, most of the time you rip open part of the TARDIS you get TARDIS guts. When Rose does it, she turns herself into a sort of a freaky goddess thing, incidentally also called the Bad Wolf. When I first saw the episode, I took this as corroborative evidence of my long held belief that the TARDIS herself is actually the main character of the show, and in "the Parting of Ways" was for some reason struck with the desire to become a Real Girl. (She's the last of her kind too, you know). It backfired so horribly that she vowed never to try it again, and has been rather better behaved since. And the best thing about this is that Neil Gaiman had the decency to go ahead and make it completely canon. Thanks Neil!
"Bad Wolf" represents a new type of story telling, and one which the show has very much embraced. It's a neat variant on the Write Back to the Future and Note To Self tropes, as well as a fun little hint that you can pick up on, but that you can't possibly decipher (the phrase being totally contentless). It piques the interest without giving you enough information to actually call the ending, only to be validated for picking up the right clues. And it violates causality, which is really what Time Travel is all about.