Meta: Constants and not so constants - or "what makes a Doctor a Doctor and not a Master?"
{this is an expanded version of what I posted to Who_OTP}
This is what happens when I write Susan: I wonder which aspects of her personality would remain the same, and which would be different.
(not sure if anyone else has the same problem)
Ie, when I wrote Paving the way for toclafane, I decided to have that regeneration drop her screaming, but keep the cold-and-focused mind, and added Lucy's slightly gaping expression. In my current WIP The Great And Mighty Susan Foreman, I'm reversing them - dropping the cold focus, and keeping the screaming.
Back when the Sound of Drums-Last of the Time Lords set of episodes first aired, there were a lot of protests and complaints that Simm was not a proper Master (all that running and dancing might be part of why).
Basically, we know that there are constants to Time Lord behavior, at least on an individual level, because we've seen them. ie,
- the Doctor always rights wrongs and puts a stop to invasions.
- the Master is always trying to gain power or leverage.
- Romana is...I don't know, because I've never really seen any of her episodes.
Yet each of those three has variables, things unique to particular incarnations/regenerations, both in terms of attitudes to situations**, mannerisms, dialect, and - you get the idea. Is there anything we can know with certainty about the constants in a Time Lord? After all, the Doctor always tries to save worlds and people, regardless of his incarnation/regeneration; similarly, all of the Master's regenerations* have tried to take over a world, if not the multiverse.
As far as I know, though, there are some Time Lords of whom we have only one incarnation of - making it more difficult to know what are their constants & what are their variables. ie,
- Susan Foreman(?***)
- the Meddling Monk.
- the Rani(?)
- Omega.
- Lord President {"The Three Doctors"}
* = I think Jacobi!Master may be excused his not taking anything over - being shot tends to interfere in such ways.
** = would 1, 4, 7, and either 9 or 10 handle the same situation in the same way? I doubt it.
*** = I read somewhere on the internet that Susan was portrayed by both Carol Ann Ford, and by Audrey Hepburn -- was this speculation as to what one of Susan's later regenerations might look like, or did it actually occur onscreen?
thoughts? ideas? opinions?
This is what happens when I write Susan: I wonder which aspects of her personality would remain the same, and which would be different.
(not sure if anyone else has the same problem)
Ie, when I wrote Paving the way for toclafane, I decided to have that regeneration drop her screaming, but keep the cold-and-focused mind, and added Lucy's slightly gaping expression. In my current WIP The Great And Mighty Susan Foreman, I'm reversing them - dropping the cold focus, and keeping the screaming.
Back when the Sound of Drums-Last of the Time Lords set of episodes first aired, there were a lot of protests and complaints that Simm was not a proper Master (all that running and dancing might be part of why).
Basically, we know that there are constants to Time Lord behavior, at least on an individual level, because we've seen them. ie,
- the Doctor always rights wrongs and puts a stop to invasions.
- the Master is always trying to gain power or leverage.
- Romana is...I don't know, because I've never really seen any of her episodes.
Yet each of those three has variables, things unique to particular incarnations/regenerations, both in terms of attitudes to situations**, mannerisms, dialect, and - you get the idea. Is there anything we can know with certainty about the constants in a Time Lord? After all, the Doctor always tries to save worlds and people, regardless of his incarnation/regeneration; similarly, all of the Master's regenerations* have tried to take over a world, if not the multiverse.
As far as I know, though, there are some Time Lords of whom we have only one incarnation of - making it more difficult to know what are their constants & what are their variables. ie,
- Susan Foreman(?***)
- the Meddling Monk.
- the Rani(?)
- Omega.
- Lord President {"The Three Doctors"}
* = I think Jacobi!Master may be excused his not taking anything over - being shot tends to interfere in such ways.
** = would 1, 4, 7, and either 9 or 10 handle the same situation in the same way? I doubt it.
*** = I read somewhere on the internet that Susan was portrayed by both Carol Ann Ford, and by Audrey Hepburn -- was this speculation as to what one of Susan's later regenerations might look like, or did it actually occur onscreen?
thoughts? ideas? opinions?