DVD Commentary: Dimensional Curves
And here it is, my DVD commentary for Dimensional Curves.
A link to the story in question...
DVD Commentary: Time is a wibbly-wobbly thing
So, where do are I start? At the beginning, I suppose.
The Title
Why did I call this story Dimensional Curves. Well, it is a reference to a new theoretical dimension, a time dimension.
But there is already a time dimension, you say, the fourth time dimension.
Ah, I say, not that time dimension, the other time dimension; the one that gives us hypertime, and solves the ‘grandfather' problem…fun TARDIS-y stuff.
If you’re into the theory of everything, M-space, and all that brain-bendy-wibbly-wobbly-give-me-a-rubber-sheet-and-a-marble-stuff go HERE
Back? Good. Now on with the story….
I started this story with a classic opening scene. Four is trying to repair the TARDIS….again. No matter how many times he fiddles with it, something always go wrong…and if it isn’t the TARDIS, it’s K-9 - a classic Four scenario, if ever there was one, especially during the three series Romana (one and two) accompanied him. (Thankfully, for poor K-9, I left him intact for the duration of the story, even if he ‘out of shot’ for most of the story.)
But that’s not what you want to know, is it? You don’t want to know how long I spent trying to get the Four/Romana dialogue as accurate as I could make it, either (A lot more difficult that Romana/Ten) or why I mutated Four into Ten, rather than keeping them as two separate identities (I wanted to ram home the concept that these two very different personalities are, in actuality, the same entity - this dissonance always reminds me of my childhood, when I dutifully learned my catechism and about the ‘holy trinity’. Lots of interesting sounding, fascinating words were involved, but did I understand, really and truly understand, how three different entities could be one god? Give me a break! I was seven.)
What you really want to know is why I brought Romana into the present, only to send her back at the end.
The answer, my friends, is because I wanted Romana to have a proper send off; one not only true to her character but as deserving of her as I could make it. To this end, I stuck with my strengths - dialogue and timing - and tried to avoid my weaknesses - prose - as much as possible. (And I’m really terrible at this kind of commentary, aren’t I? Ah well, I’ll try to elaborate in the next paragraph)
For the purposes of this commentary, I’m going to treat it like a Q&A interview, with the first question being:
Why did you bring Romana II from that period, rather than reviving her? (or resuscitating her, or finding a gold watch, buried TARDIS, weird pocket dimension…oh…wait…).
Well, Romana II, during this period, was a perfect foil to show Ten’s state of mind at this juncture. Self absorbed, yet not self aware, Ten is, perhaps, a Time Lord at the end of his tether. To my mind, his relationship with Rose is a sure sign of this. Poor Rose didn’t stand a chance, Nine sucked her in, and Ten swept her off her feet; hero worship wasn't far behind - ah, the impressionability of youth. There were a few times when she began to consider him in less than a perfect light, but she quickly got caught up in the romance of the situation again (and not just in the traditional sense of the word) and lost her way in the excitement.
It also nearly cost her her life.
Don’t get me wrong, the Doctor cared for Rose, he just didn’t seem to realise how much his influence was eating away at her independence and individuality. Everything was seen through Doctor coloured glasses, to the point that she seemed to be having difficulties, towards the end, in empathising with her fellow man. Giggling her way through tragedies, and laughing at the Doctor’s antics.
Well, Romana isn’t having any of that
She calls him on it, pure and simple. She reminds him that there are still rules, even without Gallifrey, and perhaps touches on some of the Doctor’s wounds, which may have scabbed over, but have never totally healed since the Time War.
And, in the end, he is a man in need of forgiveness, and she does the best she can, as only the old Romana, the most noble Romana of them all, can grant.
Cool dialogue…?
Lots of people mentioned this and, to be quite honest, I was surprised at some of the lines I came out with myself. I was having a good few days, it would seem :-)
What, you were expecting something more profound?
Sorry, writing is a very organic process for me, I don’t over think it because, if I do, I tend to freeze and get blocked.
Why was the ending so sad?
Is it really sadder than the rest of the story? I told this story from the perspective of Romana for a very specific reason. This story is narrated by a dead woman; a ghost, if you will. She is the Doctor’s past coming back to haunt him. The whole premise of this story is anchored in death. The death of Gallifrey, the Doctors family, heritage, past, his joy in life (this is another reason why I set this just after ‘City of Death’, from Romana’s perspective. In my opinion, it was one of the few times one sees the Doctor actively happy in old Who.)
And finally, of course, the death of Romana.
Go on, admit it, Romana and the Doctor are your OTP!
Well, maybe, but not in the way most people assume. There is a tendency in modern day storytelling to undermine the importance of friendship, in favour of a sexual relationship. Anyone who has had a good friend in their life, and has relied on that friendship to get them through the hard times, know this is a load of baloney (pardon my sausage) but there you go.
Of course, there is nothing that says being best friends and lovers are mutually exclusive (it’s the best kind of relationship, in my opinion) but the emphasis, in this story, is on the strength of their friendship. Whether or not they were doing it like bunnies (or the Gallifreyan equivalent) is not really relevant, to them, to me, or the purpose of this story.
Huh? So what was the premise of this story, then?
Friendship, forgiveness, moving on....
And having the extreme pleasure of seeing Romana, in my mind, take Ten down a peg or two :-P
So that’s it, ladies and gents. Questions? Comments? Drop me a line, if you want something specific explained, and I’ll do my best (just don’t ask me two time physics, do I look like Romana to you?)
A link to the story in question...
DVD Commentary: Time is a wibbly-wobbly thing
So, where do are I start? At the beginning, I suppose.
The Title
Why did I call this story Dimensional Curves. Well, it is a reference to a new theoretical dimension, a time dimension.
But there is already a time dimension, you say, the fourth time dimension.
Ah, I say, not that time dimension, the other time dimension; the one that gives us hypertime, and solves the ‘grandfather' problem…fun TARDIS-y stuff.
If you’re into the theory of everything, M-space, and all that brain-bendy-wibbly-wobbly-give-me-a-rubber-sheet-and-a-marble-stuff go HERE
Back? Good. Now on with the story….
I started this story with a classic opening scene. Four is trying to repair the TARDIS….again. No matter how many times he fiddles with it, something always go wrong…and if it isn’t the TARDIS, it’s K-9 - a classic Four scenario, if ever there was one, especially during the three series Romana (one and two) accompanied him. (Thankfully, for poor K-9, I left him intact for the duration of the story, even if he ‘out of shot’ for most of the story.)
But that’s not what you want to know, is it? You don’t want to know how long I spent trying to get the Four/Romana dialogue as accurate as I could make it, either (A lot more difficult that Romana/Ten) or why I mutated Four into Ten, rather than keeping them as two separate identities (I wanted to ram home the concept that these two very different personalities are, in actuality, the same entity - this dissonance always reminds me of my childhood, when I dutifully learned my catechism and about the ‘holy trinity’. Lots of interesting sounding, fascinating words were involved, but did I understand, really and truly understand, how three different entities could be one god? Give me a break! I was seven.)
What you really want to know is why I brought Romana into the present, only to send her back at the end.
The answer, my friends, is because I wanted Romana to have a proper send off; one not only true to her character but as deserving of her as I could make it. To this end, I stuck with my strengths - dialogue and timing - and tried to avoid my weaknesses - prose - as much as possible. (And I’m really terrible at this kind of commentary, aren’t I? Ah well, I’ll try to elaborate in the next paragraph)
For the purposes of this commentary, I’m going to treat it like a Q&A interview, with the first question being:
Why did you bring Romana II from that period, rather than reviving her? (or resuscitating her, or finding a gold watch, buried TARDIS, weird pocket dimension…oh…wait…).
Well, Romana II, during this period, was a perfect foil to show Ten’s state of mind at this juncture. Self absorbed, yet not self aware, Ten is, perhaps, a Time Lord at the end of his tether. To my mind, his relationship with Rose is a sure sign of this. Poor Rose didn’t stand a chance, Nine sucked her in, and Ten swept her off her feet; hero worship wasn't far behind - ah, the impressionability of youth. There were a few times when she began to consider him in less than a perfect light, but she quickly got caught up in the romance of the situation again (and not just in the traditional sense of the word) and lost her way in the excitement.
It also nearly cost her her life.
Don’t get me wrong, the Doctor cared for Rose, he just didn’t seem to realise how much his influence was eating away at her independence and individuality. Everything was seen through Doctor coloured glasses, to the point that she seemed to be having difficulties, towards the end, in empathising with her fellow man. Giggling her way through tragedies, and laughing at the Doctor’s antics.
Well, Romana isn’t having any of that
She calls him on it, pure and simple. She reminds him that there are still rules, even without Gallifrey, and perhaps touches on some of the Doctor’s wounds, which may have scabbed over, but have never totally healed since the Time War.
And, in the end, he is a man in need of forgiveness, and she does the best she can, as only the old Romana, the most noble Romana of them all, can grant.
Cool dialogue…?
Lots of people mentioned this and, to be quite honest, I was surprised at some of the lines I came out with myself. I was having a good few days, it would seem :-)
What, you were expecting something more profound?
Sorry, writing is a very organic process for me, I don’t over think it because, if I do, I tend to freeze and get blocked.
Why was the ending so sad?
Is it really sadder than the rest of the story? I told this story from the perspective of Romana for a very specific reason. This story is narrated by a dead woman; a ghost, if you will. She is the Doctor’s past coming back to haunt him. The whole premise of this story is anchored in death. The death of Gallifrey, the Doctors family, heritage, past, his joy in life (this is another reason why I set this just after ‘City of Death’, from Romana’s perspective. In my opinion, it was one of the few times one sees the Doctor actively happy in old Who.)
And finally, of course, the death of Romana.
Go on, admit it, Romana and the Doctor are your OTP!
Well, maybe, but not in the way most people assume. There is a tendency in modern day storytelling to undermine the importance of friendship, in favour of a sexual relationship. Anyone who has had a good friend in their life, and has relied on that friendship to get them through the hard times, know this is a load of baloney (pardon my sausage) but there you go.
Of course, there is nothing that says being best friends and lovers are mutually exclusive (it’s the best kind of relationship, in my opinion) but the emphasis, in this story, is on the strength of their friendship. Whether or not they were doing it like bunnies (or the Gallifreyan equivalent) is not really relevant, to them, to me, or the purpose of this story.
Huh? So what was the premise of this story, then?
Friendship, forgiveness, moving on....
And having the extreme pleasure of seeing Romana, in my mind, take Ten down a peg or two :-P
So that’s it, ladies and gents. Questions? Comments? Drop me a line, if you want something specific explained, and I’ll do my best (just don’t ask me two time physics, do I look like Romana to you?)