How can you tell Diaz is overtired?
Yeah, it's 'cause I start seeing deep meaning in Doctor Who story arcs.
Seriously, this entire run of Who has been all about missing fathers, and the lengths paternally-deprived people will go to, to be loved and admired by someone (significantly) older and wiser and more experienced, who takes them on fabulous trips and adventures and introduces them to grown-up living, multiculturalism, extreme differences in intelligent and kind peoples (and between them), and shows them a better way to be.
Disclaimer: my Dad died when I was a toddler, and yes, I have some issues regarding being raised by my mentally-ill single mother. I'm a bit less likely to hare off with an alien in a blue box than most fictional people, though. BEHOLD, FOR NOW I SHALL BADLY ANALYSE POP CULTURE WITH MY LIMITED KNOWLEDGE OF HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY.
Rose's Dad died when she was a baby, and she grew up with just her Mum. She's tough and compassionate and playful and a little bit wounded, and craves the Doctor's approval. Mickey's hostile at first, pissed because the Doctor clearly has Rose's affection, but he eventually comes around to being sort-of pals with Ten. But hey, WTF happened to Billie Piper's teeth, does anyone know?
Martha's parents are divorced because her Dad's a cheating twit, but they're still a close-knit family. Martha's intelligent, strong-willed, and a family protector, but yearns for an older male presence, a constant one, who won't bugger off and wreck the whole world if someone younger and prettier comes along.
Donna. Ah, Donna's my favourite, because I see a lot of myself in her. She's low-achieving, has low self-esteem, and blusters a lot to cover up feelings of worthlessness and invisibility. But she's smart, and funny, and she knows when to step up and yell at the Doctor, in large part because she's got Wilf, her grandfather, who adores her, while her mother's fairly hypercritical. I love Donna best because she's the one who never falls in love with him. instead, she's the one who comes up his fucking equal, and then goes one better, by becoming the Doctor Donna, and saving the entire fucking universe when he can't. But she's still a lonely little girl whose father isn't around, and if he had been, I strongly suspect they'd have argued a LOT. They'd love each other, but they'd argue.
Even Amy Pond is missing her father (OK, both parents), and spends fourteen years waiting for her magical friend to come and rescue her. She's The Girl Who Waited, FFS. She's got intimacy issues like WHOA, and could barely demonstrate honest affection for Rory, who was devoted to her, until she thought he'd died on her AGAIN. Poor Rory (quite the BAMF, isn't he? particularly when he's dressed as a Roman - or a 60s conservative drone, yum) even thought she'd fallen in love with the Doctor and was using him as some sort of toy because she couldn't have the one she wanted.
And the Doctors always seem so ready to leap into the role of surrogate dad, even when they're falling in love with their Companions, it's a bit weird. Don't get me wrong, I adore Ten. He and Four are and probably always will be my absolute favourites. But Ten hit all the emotional highs and lows for me, and when he knew he was dying and went around tying up loose ends and showing himself that one last time to each of his dear ones, he just about broke my fucking heart, especially with Donna.
Seriously, he went back in time and got a pound note from her Dad to buy her winning lottery ticket. He had her Dad buy her the winning ticket!! I bawled, I don't mind admitting it. But I haven't seen much discussion of the whole theme of absent/dead fathers, and I find that a little weird.
I'm pretty sure this is much less coherent than it seems to me right now, so I'm going to bed. I'll probably laugh my ass off over this post in the morning. Heh.
Seriously, this entire run of Who has been all about missing fathers, and the lengths paternally-deprived people will go to, to be loved and admired by someone (significantly) older and wiser and more experienced, who takes them on fabulous trips and adventures and introduces them to grown-up living, multiculturalism, extreme differences in intelligent and kind peoples (and between them), and shows them a better way to be.
Disclaimer: my Dad died when I was a toddler, and yes, I have some issues regarding being raised by my mentally-ill single mother. I'm a bit less likely to hare off with an alien in a blue box than most fictional people, though. BEHOLD, FOR NOW I SHALL BADLY ANALYSE POP CULTURE WITH MY LIMITED KNOWLEDGE OF HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY.
Rose's Dad died when she was a baby, and she grew up with just her Mum. She's tough and compassionate and playful and a little bit wounded, and craves the Doctor's approval. Mickey's hostile at first, pissed because the Doctor clearly has Rose's affection, but he eventually comes around to being sort-of pals with Ten. But hey, WTF happened to Billie Piper's teeth, does anyone know?
Martha's parents are divorced because her Dad's a cheating twit, but they're still a close-knit family. Martha's intelligent, strong-willed, and a family protector, but yearns for an older male presence, a constant one, who won't bugger off and wreck the whole world if someone younger and prettier comes along.
Donna. Ah, Donna's my favourite, because I see a lot of myself in her. She's low-achieving, has low self-esteem, and blusters a lot to cover up feelings of worthlessness and invisibility. But she's smart, and funny, and she knows when to step up and yell at the Doctor, in large part because she's got Wilf, her grandfather, who adores her, while her mother's fairly hypercritical. I love Donna best because she's the one who never falls in love with him. instead, she's the one who comes up his fucking equal, and then goes one better, by becoming the Doctor Donna, and saving the entire fucking universe when he can't. But she's still a lonely little girl whose father isn't around, and if he had been, I strongly suspect they'd have argued a LOT. They'd love each other, but they'd argue.
Even Amy Pond is missing her father (OK, both parents), and spends fourteen years waiting for her magical friend to come and rescue her. She's The Girl Who Waited, FFS. She's got intimacy issues like WHOA, and could barely demonstrate honest affection for Rory, who was devoted to her, until she thought he'd died on her AGAIN. Poor Rory (quite the BAMF, isn't he? particularly when he's dressed as a Roman - or a 60s conservative drone, yum) even thought she'd fallen in love with the Doctor and was using him as some sort of toy because she couldn't have the one she wanted.
And the Doctors always seem so ready to leap into the role of surrogate dad, even when they're falling in love with their Companions, it's a bit weird. Don't get me wrong, I adore Ten. He and Four are and probably always will be my absolute favourites. But Ten hit all the emotional highs and lows for me, and when he knew he was dying and went around tying up loose ends and showing himself that one last time to each of his dear ones, he just about broke my fucking heart, especially with Donna.
Seriously, he went back in time and got a pound note from her Dad to buy her winning lottery ticket. He had her Dad buy her the winning ticket!! I bawled, I don't mind admitting it. But I haven't seen much discussion of the whole theme of absent/dead fathers, and I find that a little weird.
I'm pretty sure this is much less coherent than it seems to me right now, so I'm going to bed. I'll probably laugh my ass off over this post in the morning. Heh.