Doctor Who: Winner Takes All
[For your consideration: there are very vague spoilers for very early series 1 before the cut.]
I read Winner Takes All, a Nine/Rose novel by Jacqueline Rayner, this week (I'm timing myself with the books to make the Doctor/Rose canon last longer), and I have excerpts and thoughts on them!
It's odd - I'm usually very strict about what I consider canon, and I've never really counted spin-off media such as novelisations to my personal, restricted-to-what's-on-screen canon. With Doctor Who, I've started questioning that attitude - which is strange enough, considering there are so many novels and audio adventures and who knows what out there that it must be a nightmare to attempt to include all the happenings in canon. Yet I find myself grasping for any additional more-or-less official Doctor/Rose canon because I love them so. And since one of the novels has been alluded to in an episode (in Boom Town, Rose refers to Justicia, which is the plot of The Monsters Inside), thus making it officially canonical, I have no problem including the novels in my own personal canon.
Winner Takes All is interesting because it is set very early in the Doctor and Rose's relationship, apparently after the events of Aliens of London/World War Three, but probably before Dalek. So at this point, the Doctor and Rose can't have been acquainted with each other for more than a few weeks at the most - in AoL/WWIII, they had definitely only known each other for a few days, and taken two trips together.
In short, the plot revolves around aliens using humans to fight their enemies in what looks like, to the humans, a computer game. Humans have two functions: they are either controllers, playing the game; or they are carriers, carrying out the controller's moves like a puppet, conscious, but with no way of acting on their own. The plot thickens as Rose has to play the game in the alien stronghold, with the Doctor as her controller.
Firstly, Jackie cracks me up and I miss her so much. She wins a holiday (or that's what she thinks) and leaves Rose, who is back on Earth with the Doctor, a note:
Dear Rose,
I won the holiday!!! [...] Tried to ring but you'd left your phone up here. [...] Won't be for long, hope you're still here when I get back. Help yourself to anything. If you share a bedroom I don't want know about it. Love Mum xxx.
... oh, Jackie, ILU.
Rose is stuck in the alien stronghold, not being able to move by herself:
Rose's thoughts about the Doctor were not complimentary. [...] The Doctor was probably having a good old laugh at stupid, helpless, puppet Rose.
And just knowing that he almost certainly wasn't didn't stop her thinking about it. When she got hold of him...
She'd give him a great big hug, because she's still be alive and he'd still be alive and he'd probably have saved her life, lots of other people's lives, and a planet or two into the bargain. And she wouldn't mention the helplessness she'd felt; how she hated this more than anything ever.
She wouldn't mention how she was worried she was his puppet, doing things at his command, whether she could move by herself or not.
She thought she'd chosen to travel with him of her own free will, but she'd figured out that he had his own agenda. Because he needed a companion. He needed her. Somehow, she validated him. If a tree fell in a forest when no one was there to hear it, did it make a sound? If a Time Lord saved a world when there was no one there to know it, was he still a hero?
And this, right there, is why I've come to appreciate novels in addition to televised canon. This bit gives us so much insight into Rose's character, into her motivation, her fears; it's much easier to show all this in this form rather than on television. It's only a page or so, but we learn so much about Rose Tyler. She's terrified of being helpless, of being a pawn, of having choices made for her. Yet the Doctor will make choices for her time and again as long as they are together, and she will always fight them, because she's her own person and because she gets to decide what she wants to do with her life, not him. At the same time, she knows - already knows, so early on - how much he needs her, how egoistical he can be.
And then a few pages later, we have the Doctor, thinking about the very same situation as he tries to make some adjustments to his console, talking to a fellow prisoner, Robert:
'This thing's pretty sophisticated, but not enough, to my mind, not for what I need. [...] Rose won't like it, though.'
'You mean you're going to improve the controls? Make her do more things?'
'Yeah and Yeah.'
'No, I don't think she is going to like that.'
'Nope.'
The Doctor seemed to have stopped still all of a sudden. Robert held his breath - had the Doctor heard a Quevvil coming or something?
He risked the tiniest glance at the man, and what he saw in his face was frightening. Hurriedly looking back at the screen, he whispered, 'What is it?'
The Doctor didn't answer straight away. [...]
'How dare they!' the Doctor yelled, thumping the wall with his fist. 'How dare they make me do this to her! Rose is not a toy!' [...]
The Doctor didn't seem to hear him. His voice was calmer now, but icier; scarier. 'You don't treat someone like that. You don't treat a person like that. And they're making me do it, making me degrade her like that. We'll get out of this, won't dwell on it, won't ever mention it again. But, back of our minds, it'll always be there.' He thumped the wall again, then, after a frozen second, sat back down and picked up the controller. 'I'll just get on with augmenting my friend, then.'
'I'm sorry,' Robert whispered.
'I know,' the Doctor whispered back. 'Thank you.'
Very clearly, Rose is not a puppet for the Doctor, on the contrary; it disgusts him to have to treat her like one. Again, very early on, we see how possessive the Doctor can get - you do NOT mess with Rose, or else. I love how this also alludes to the darker strains of their relationship, how it's not always sunshine and puppies (even though that is what I love most about them, but it's good to know it can be complicated for them, too). There must be so many things now that they never talk about because it would break them if they would, so they just push it aside and try not to dwell on it.
Later on, after the game is over, Robert enquires into the nature of the Doctor and Rose's relationship, first talking to the Doctor and later to Rose:
'And you and Rose...?'
'Travel around the universe doing good deeds, yeah. Well, and having a bit of fun. Sometimes.'
'So she's really... like, your assistant. Like Robin, or something.'
The Doctor snorted. 'Assistant? Rose, right? She travels with me. In my time machine. You'd think I'd be the boss, yeah? Yeah, right. There've been times I wouldn't have minded one of them little silver boxes, I tell you - it'd make things a whole lot easier...' [...]
'How are we going to find her, though?'
'Oh, the TARDIS'll manage, now the force field's down,' said the Doctor. 'I can't quite work out why, but she seems to have taken a shine to that girl.'
'It was horrible,' she said. 'Not being in control. Makes you think, though. Makes you wonder if you're going through life like that, anyway.'
Robert gaped. 'But you're going round the universe saving it!'
She shrugged. 'Yeah, right. But I'm only Robin. [...] Actually, I'm not even Robin,' said Rose. I'm more Lois Lane. He -' she nodded at the Doctor, who was busy at the console - 'gets to be the superhero. I get to be rescued.'
'That's what you think?' asked Robert.
'It's what I know,' she replied.
Robert grinned. 'Funny that he doesn't know it,' he said.
Rose's mouth fell open. 'He's been talking about me?'
'Might've,' said Robert, hardly daring to believe he was actually teasing the wonderful girl. 'Might've said a thing or tow.'
Having both their thoughts about Rose's role in their adventures juxtaposed as such is so telling. Again, Rose fears that really, she's not the one in control; she's just the damsel in the distress. Yet the Doctor observes her as being completely independent of him and rather strong-minded, and it's obvious that he is already completely under her spell, even if it's not obvious to him yet. Heck, even he TARDIS knows.
After the adventure, Rose just wants to go home and sleep, offering the couch to the Doctor, who once again half manipulates her into going back to the TARDIS straight away:
'Somewhere warm, then!' he said. 'We could watch the building of the Great Pyramid, or investigate this rumour I heard about this mad scientist who tried to build asbestos robots to colonise the sun.'
And all of Rose's tiredness fell away as he spoke. She looked out of the window as the sun rose upon another grey London day, and thought about the alternatives the Doctor was offering. And she realised that while she might truly be the mistress of her own destiny, sometimes there really wasn't much of a choice.
'Yeah, all right,' she said.
So, arm in arm, they left the flat, and walked towards the future.
They do have a very interdependent relationship, don't they? Sure, he could go without her, but it wouldn't be nearly as much fun, so he tries to entice her, even manipulate her into coming along, and he knows it's going to work because it has before. And Rose lets herself be manipulated, to a certain degree, because there really isn't much of a choice. Why stay in your dreary life if you can have the whole of time and space?
Not that the last line made me wibble and cry due to simultaneous joy and pain or anything like that. Not at all.
I read Winner Takes All, a Nine/Rose novel by Jacqueline Rayner, this week (I'm timing myself with the books to make the Doctor/Rose canon last longer), and I have excerpts and thoughts on them!
It's odd - I'm usually very strict about what I consider canon, and I've never really counted spin-off media such as novelisations to my personal, restricted-to-what's-on-screen canon. With Doctor Who, I've started questioning that attitude - which is strange enough, considering there are so many novels and audio adventures and who knows what out there that it must be a nightmare to attempt to include all the happenings in canon. Yet I find myself grasping for any additional more-or-less official Doctor/Rose canon because I love them so. And since one of the novels has been alluded to in an episode (in Boom Town, Rose refers to Justicia, which is the plot of The Monsters Inside), thus making it officially canonical, I have no problem including the novels in my own personal canon.
Winner Takes All is interesting because it is set very early in the Doctor and Rose's relationship, apparently after the events of Aliens of London/World War Three, but probably before Dalek. So at this point, the Doctor and Rose can't have been acquainted with each other for more than a few weeks at the most - in AoL/WWIII, they had definitely only known each other for a few days, and taken two trips together.
In short, the plot revolves around aliens using humans to fight their enemies in what looks like, to the humans, a computer game. Humans have two functions: they are either controllers, playing the game; or they are carriers, carrying out the controller's moves like a puppet, conscious, but with no way of acting on their own. The plot thickens as Rose has to play the game in the alien stronghold, with the Doctor as her controller.
Firstly, Jackie cracks me up and I miss her so much. She wins a holiday (or that's what she thinks) and leaves Rose, who is back on Earth with the Doctor, a note:
Dear Rose,
I won the holiday!!! [...] Tried to ring but you'd left your phone up here. [...] Won't be for long, hope you're still here when I get back. Help yourself to anything. If you share a bedroom I don't want know about it. Love Mum xxx.
... oh, Jackie, ILU.
Rose is stuck in the alien stronghold, not being able to move by herself:
Rose's thoughts about the Doctor were not complimentary. [...] The Doctor was probably having a good old laugh at stupid, helpless, puppet Rose.
And just knowing that he almost certainly wasn't didn't stop her thinking about it. When she got hold of him...
She'd give him a great big hug, because she's still be alive and he'd still be alive and he'd probably have saved her life, lots of other people's lives, and a planet or two into the bargain. And she wouldn't mention the helplessness she'd felt; how she hated this more than anything ever.
She wouldn't mention how she was worried she was his puppet, doing things at his command, whether she could move by herself or not.
She thought she'd chosen to travel with him of her own free will, but she'd figured out that he had his own agenda. Because he needed a companion. He needed her. Somehow, she validated him. If a tree fell in a forest when no one was there to hear it, did it make a sound? If a Time Lord saved a world when there was no one there to know it, was he still a hero?
And this, right there, is why I've come to appreciate novels in addition to televised canon. This bit gives us so much insight into Rose's character, into her motivation, her fears; it's much easier to show all this in this form rather than on television. It's only a page or so, but we learn so much about Rose Tyler. She's terrified of being helpless, of being a pawn, of having choices made for her. Yet the Doctor will make choices for her time and again as long as they are together, and she will always fight them, because she's her own person and because she gets to decide what she wants to do with her life, not him. At the same time, she knows - already knows, so early on - how much he needs her, how egoistical he can be.
And then a few pages later, we have the Doctor, thinking about the very same situation as he tries to make some adjustments to his console, talking to a fellow prisoner, Robert:
'This thing's pretty sophisticated, but not enough, to my mind, not for what I need. [...] Rose won't like it, though.'
'You mean you're going to improve the controls? Make her do more things?'
'Yeah and Yeah.'
'No, I don't think she is going to like that.'
'Nope.'
The Doctor seemed to have stopped still all of a sudden. Robert held his breath - had the Doctor heard a Quevvil coming or something?
He risked the tiniest glance at the man, and what he saw in his face was frightening. Hurriedly looking back at the screen, he whispered, 'What is it?'
The Doctor didn't answer straight away. [...]
'How dare they!' the Doctor yelled, thumping the wall with his fist. 'How dare they make me do this to her! Rose is not a toy!' [...]
The Doctor didn't seem to hear him. His voice was calmer now, but icier; scarier. 'You don't treat someone like that. You don't treat a person like that. And they're making me do it, making me degrade her like that. We'll get out of this, won't dwell on it, won't ever mention it again. But, back of our minds, it'll always be there.' He thumped the wall again, then, after a frozen second, sat back down and picked up the controller. 'I'll just get on with augmenting my friend, then.'
'I'm sorry,' Robert whispered.
'I know,' the Doctor whispered back. 'Thank you.'
Very clearly, Rose is not a puppet for the Doctor, on the contrary; it disgusts him to have to treat her like one. Again, very early on, we see how possessive the Doctor can get - you do NOT mess with Rose, or else. I love how this also alludes to the darker strains of their relationship, how it's not always sunshine and puppies (even though that is what I love most about them, but it's good to know it can be complicated for them, too). There must be so many things now that they never talk about because it would break them if they would, so they just push it aside and try not to dwell on it.
Later on, after the game is over, Robert enquires into the nature of the Doctor and Rose's relationship, first talking to the Doctor and later to Rose:
'And you and Rose...?'
'Travel around the universe doing good deeds, yeah. Well, and having a bit of fun. Sometimes.'
'So she's really... like, your assistant. Like Robin, or something.'
The Doctor snorted. 'Assistant? Rose, right? She travels with me. In my time machine. You'd think I'd be the boss, yeah? Yeah, right. There've been times I wouldn't have minded one of them little silver boxes, I tell you - it'd make things a whole lot easier...' [...]
'How are we going to find her, though?'
'Oh, the TARDIS'll manage, now the force field's down,' said the Doctor. 'I can't quite work out why, but she seems to have taken a shine to that girl.'
'It was horrible,' she said. 'Not being in control. Makes you think, though. Makes you wonder if you're going through life like that, anyway.'
Robert gaped. 'But you're going round the universe saving it!'
She shrugged. 'Yeah, right. But I'm only Robin. [...] Actually, I'm not even Robin,' said Rose. I'm more Lois Lane. He -' she nodded at the Doctor, who was busy at the console - 'gets to be the superhero. I get to be rescued.'
'That's what you think?' asked Robert.
'It's what I know,' she replied.
Robert grinned. 'Funny that he doesn't know it,' he said.
Rose's mouth fell open. 'He's been talking about me?'
'Might've,' said Robert, hardly daring to believe he was actually teasing the wonderful girl. 'Might've said a thing or tow.'
Having both their thoughts about Rose's role in their adventures juxtaposed as such is so telling. Again, Rose fears that really, she's not the one in control; she's just the damsel in the distress. Yet the Doctor observes her as being completely independent of him and rather strong-minded, and it's obvious that he is already completely under her spell, even if it's not obvious to him yet. Heck, even he TARDIS knows.
After the adventure, Rose just wants to go home and sleep, offering the couch to the Doctor, who once again half manipulates her into going back to the TARDIS straight away:
'Somewhere warm, then!' he said. 'We could watch the building of the Great Pyramid, or investigate this rumour I heard about this mad scientist who tried to build asbestos robots to colonise the sun.'
And all of Rose's tiredness fell away as he spoke. She looked out of the window as the sun rose upon another grey London day, and thought about the alternatives the Doctor was offering. And she realised that while she might truly be the mistress of her own destiny, sometimes there really wasn't much of a choice.
'Yeah, all right,' she said.
So, arm in arm, they left the flat, and walked towards the future.
They do have a very interdependent relationship, don't they? Sure, he could go without her, but it wouldn't be nearly as much fun, so he tries to entice her, even manipulate her into coming along, and he knows it's going to work because it has before. And Rose lets herself be manipulated, to a certain degree, because there really isn't much of a choice. Why stay in your dreary life if you can have the whole of time and space?
Not that the last line made me wibble and cry due to simultaneous joy and pain or anything like that. Not at all.