Doctor Who Meta - The Unifying Theme of Season 4
The other day in one of those Doctor Who meme posts I mentioned the theme of season 4. By this I don't mean the mystery of the season. The mystery, or arc, of season 4 is 'what happened to those planets, why are they disappearing, and who's taking them.' A perfectly fine mystery with good hints along the way and a tidy resolution but that is just the surface -- the basic plot that drives things along. What I'm talking about the underlying structure of the season. And I do have similar thoughts about the other seasons as well but let's start with season 4.
So what is the the unifying idea of the season? CHILDREN. Throughout the season we see so much imagery of children, of parenthood, of reproduction, and of creating new generations that you just about can't turn around without finding some. To dig down a bit deeper, the imagery is all about making someone in your own image, mirroring both in the transmission of yourself and in the transmission of your ideals. Will the next generation follow your example or will they break away to destroy what you want to save? (Or save what you want to destroy?) Will they grow up or remain children forever? Do you even want them to grow up?
Frequently throughout the season this theme was dealt with literally as various groups and individuals created clones of themselves. When you get right down to it, making copies of yourself is good way to be assured that your children with follow you. None of this messy reproductive mixing when you already know exactly what and who you want in the next generation.
We start right in the first episode with the Adipose, cloned from human fat as London is turned into a breeding colony. Then the Pyrovile attempt to recreate themselves by using humans as host for their stone dust. The Sontarans in turn try to create a new generation on Earth while also cloning Martha in the process. The Ood even get into the action by turning Halpen into an Ood. All culminating in the finale where Davros clones himself into millions of Daleks and the Doctor accidentally clones himself from his hand.
Clones everywhere! And in most cases the clones are exactly what their creators wanted them to be -- the reflection of the parent. But some of them grow up and learn to choose for themselves who they would be.
In The Doctor's Daughter we have a whole planet of clones creating new generations of themselves every few hours and none of them ever growing beyond their initial imprinting. They look like adults but every one of them is a child who will die quickly in a war that they neither understand nor have even given any thought to. They are born to be solders and they never question it. Like the others, Jenny starts out as the perfect soldier herself, so much so that the Doctor rejects her entirely since Ten could never abide a reflection of the warrior side of him. But she doesn't stay that way but rather subverts the expectation that she will unquestioningly mirror the rest of the group. Instead the Doctor influences her to begin to mirror his more positive qualities of preferring non-violent solutions and wanting to explore the universe for the pure joy of it rather than remaining the child warrior she was created to be.
Even the Daleks, the most perfect unquestioning clones ever, cannot escape having a child change and grow up. Dalek Caan breaks away and rejects the ideals of Daleks after having witnessed the evils caused by the Daleks throughout time and space.
The idea of children was also shown more metaphorically as well. Let's start with the Doctor's Daughter again. (I bet you weren't expecting to see so much meta about that episode. *g*) The Doctor uses his influence at the end to give them a new basis for their society. A mirroring of the man the Doctor wants to be: The Man That Never Would. Though he doesn't live up to those ideals, and he knows it -- we can see it in his self loathing -- these are still the ideals of the universe that he would like to live in. Moving on to the Sontaran episodes, Luke Rattigan is a genius child in search of a parent to emulate. First he tries to mirror the Sontarans and become their ideal of a perfect warrior but they reject him. In the Doctor he finds someone more worthy to emulate and he grows up as he sacrifices himself to save the world. And in both The Fires of Pompeii and The Planet of the Ood, the Doctor and Donna are revered as heroes whose example and deeds can influence generations to come.
Of course, the clearest example of metaphorical children in the season is The Children of Time. The Doctor's former companions -- Jack, Rose, Martha, Donna, Mickey, and Sarah Jane - all come together to do what needs to be done. What the Doctor has shown them to do which is to be willing to sacrifice everything to save others. When it comes down to Pompeii or the Earth, the Earth wins; and when it comes down to the Earth or the universe, the universe wins. But they don't just go in to destroy without questioning and giving the other side a chance. Just as the Doctor gave the Sontarans a chance to back down, his companions do so with the Daleks as well.
Unfortunately, the Doctor sees them still as children mirroring his dark side, the side that destroyed the time lords (however much we know that they needed to destroyed: it was the time lords or the universe), instead they've grown up and are ready to take the fate of the universe in their hands. Sometimes these hard decisions need to be made and who better to make them than people who understand the stakes involved. They are heroes not villains no matter how much the Doctor is blind to the fact that he doesn't get to make the decisions for everyone and can't control everything. The Doctor can't keep humans from growing up and taking control of their own destiny no matter how much he would like to, if only to protect them.
These examples I've brought up are only some of the many instances of the theme throughout the season. For a few more we have the Martha clone growing past her imprinting, the child Cal at the center the library, River Song and her team mirrored as ghosts into the computer, and (of course) Ten II and the DoctorDonna -- one clone of the Doctor that mirrors some of his darker impulses (at least for a critical moment) and another that grows to combine the best of human and time lord but cannot remain so and live.
So what is the the unifying idea of the season? CHILDREN. Throughout the season we see so much imagery of children, of parenthood, of reproduction, and of creating new generations that you just about can't turn around without finding some. To dig down a bit deeper, the imagery is all about making someone in your own image, mirroring both in the transmission of yourself and in the transmission of your ideals. Will the next generation follow your example or will they break away to destroy what you want to save? (Or save what you want to destroy?) Will they grow up or remain children forever? Do you even want them to grow up?
Frequently throughout the season this theme was dealt with literally as various groups and individuals created clones of themselves. When you get right down to it, making copies of yourself is good way to be assured that your children with follow you. None of this messy reproductive mixing when you already know exactly what and who you want in the next generation.
We start right in the first episode with the Adipose, cloned from human fat as London is turned into a breeding colony. Then the Pyrovile attempt to recreate themselves by using humans as host for their stone dust. The Sontarans in turn try to create a new generation on Earth while also cloning Martha in the process. The Ood even get into the action by turning Halpen into an Ood. All culminating in the finale where Davros clones himself into millions of Daleks and the Doctor accidentally clones himself from his hand.
Clones everywhere! And in most cases the clones are exactly what their creators wanted them to be -- the reflection of the parent. But some of them grow up and learn to choose for themselves who they would be.
In The Doctor's Daughter we have a whole planet of clones creating new generations of themselves every few hours and none of them ever growing beyond their initial imprinting. They look like adults but every one of them is a child who will die quickly in a war that they neither understand nor have even given any thought to. They are born to be solders and they never question it. Like the others, Jenny starts out as the perfect soldier herself, so much so that the Doctor rejects her entirely since Ten could never abide a reflection of the warrior side of him. But she doesn't stay that way but rather subverts the expectation that she will unquestioningly mirror the rest of the group. Instead the Doctor influences her to begin to mirror his more positive qualities of preferring non-violent solutions and wanting to explore the universe for the pure joy of it rather than remaining the child warrior she was created to be.
Even the Daleks, the most perfect unquestioning clones ever, cannot escape having a child change and grow up. Dalek Caan breaks away and rejects the ideals of Daleks after having witnessed the evils caused by the Daleks throughout time and space.
The idea of children was also shown more metaphorically as well. Let's start with the Doctor's Daughter again. (I bet you weren't expecting to see so much meta about that episode. *g*) The Doctor uses his influence at the end to give them a new basis for their society. A mirroring of the man the Doctor wants to be: The Man That Never Would. Though he doesn't live up to those ideals, and he knows it -- we can see it in his self loathing -- these are still the ideals of the universe that he would like to live in. Moving on to the Sontaran episodes, Luke Rattigan is a genius child in search of a parent to emulate. First he tries to mirror the Sontarans and become their ideal of a perfect warrior but they reject him. In the Doctor he finds someone more worthy to emulate and he grows up as he sacrifices himself to save the world. And in both The Fires of Pompeii and The Planet of the Ood, the Doctor and Donna are revered as heroes whose example and deeds can influence generations to come.
Of course, the clearest example of metaphorical children in the season is The Children of Time. The Doctor's former companions -- Jack, Rose, Martha, Donna, Mickey, and Sarah Jane - all come together to do what needs to be done. What the Doctor has shown them to do which is to be willing to sacrifice everything to save others. When it comes down to Pompeii or the Earth, the Earth wins; and when it comes down to the Earth or the universe, the universe wins. But they don't just go in to destroy without questioning and giving the other side a chance. Just as the Doctor gave the Sontarans a chance to back down, his companions do so with the Daleks as well.
Unfortunately, the Doctor sees them still as children mirroring his dark side, the side that destroyed the time lords (however much we know that they needed to destroyed: it was the time lords or the universe), instead they've grown up and are ready to take the fate of the universe in their hands. Sometimes these hard decisions need to be made and who better to make them than people who understand the stakes involved. They are heroes not villains no matter how much the Doctor is blind to the fact that he doesn't get to make the decisions for everyone and can't control everything. The Doctor can't keep humans from growing up and taking control of their own destiny no matter how much he would like to, if only to protect them.
These examples I've brought up are only some of the many instances of the theme throughout the season. For a few more we have the Martha clone growing past her imprinting, the child Cal at the center the library, River Song and her team mirrored as ghosts into the computer, and (of course) Ten II and the DoctorDonna -- one clone of the Doctor that mirrors some of his darker impulses (at least for a critical moment) and another that grows to combine the best of human and time lord but cannot remain so and live.