a little doctor who, a little book begging

[tempestsarekind]

1. So, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell: convince me, o my flist. I have started reading this book twice now, and each time I've gone along quite happily for 200, 300 pages--until we hit the Napoleonic Wars. And then my brain just gives up. (Last time I made it to page 405, the very end of chapter 30, which had Stephen Black in it, and then I saw

Comments

[viomisehunt]

I'm finding Matt's Doctor more complex, simply because his Doctor, is not as certain as to his role in the Universe. I like the way Moffat gives us the opportunity to confront him when he makes some proclamation, or disrupts a life. As to Emo adding depth-it gives us more volume. Eleven is having to do the one thing Nine understood, but Ten avoided:Choosing a place-- because his home is gone-- and understanding that place. As long as Ten could deceive himself into thinking that he has an "authoritarian" right to Speak for humanity, he could allow himself to use our lives and Earth's defining events as his own personal stage. It is not so much that he assumes slaying a few space dragons make him Earth's savior, It was the act of shoving aside a human being who was giving his one and only life to speak for and defend us. And in spite of Martha's reprimand, he didn't get it. Six was like that, but he had issues. Ten choosing to deflower Elizabeth or showing up on Mars was pure ego. Eleven has to ask himself when is he doing what is

[tempestsarekind]

Oh, yes, Ten was such a train wreck, wasn't he? And I say that with a fair amount of love!

As long as Ten could deceive himself into thinking that he has an "authoritarian" right to Speak for humanity, he could allow himself to use our lives and Earth's defining events as his own personal stage.

I like that analysis. One of the things that's so odd about Ten is the way that he attempts to demonstrate how much he "gets" humanity, especially earlier in S2: quoting The Lion King, the whole "happy-slapping hoodies with ringtones and ASBOs" bit in "School Reunion." And that goes along with the constant "humany humans are so human, aren't they great?" stuff--but when dealing with actual, individual humans, he was frequently rather rubbish. Eleven is much more the benevolent, slightly paternalistic figure, and he's clueless about what's "appropriate" socially (as at Rory's bachelor party)--but so far he's much better at dealing with people *as* people

[viomisehunt]

I thought Nine pronounced just as much love when he told that couple in Father's Day how wonderful he felt their simple life was. It was a life he never had, never could have, and as a Time Lord couldn't dream of having, yet he realized, more than his older self (Ten) appeared to, that it is these little, often undramatic moments in life that are worth perserving. Ten however, seems to wants to be part of the Something Big in human events more so than any other Doctor. And I loved that bit with the wedding cake, and I loved Eleven talking with the Vampire/Fish lady queen, alien to alien, about survival, and what is ethical.

[tempestsarekind]

Yes--I got the sense that Nine really meant that speech, but Ten's treatment of ordinary humans contradicted the overt sentiments of love and affection.

The showdown between Eleven and Rosanna was my favorite part of "Vampires," I think. Well, no, second favorite: my very favorite was Rory's speech about how the Doctor makes people dangerous to themselves. I love it when companions stand up to the Doctor and show the other side of what his brilliance can do to them.

[viomisehunt]

Although Four will always be my favorite Doctor, Two,Three,Five,Seven,and Eight truly seemed to promote and love to see his human companions realize and grow into their potential, rather than considering their potential something he siphon for his own benifits. There is just that fine line between giving someone wings or tying someone to you in a dependent way that we All straddled in relationships, and Ten more than any Doctor-i because of his loss--struggled with that. One was a renegade but he wasn't lonely.Two was estranged from his people but there was nothing that indicated the need for companionship until Nine; and in Ten that need became something unbalanced.

[tempestsarekind]

Yes--loneliness is one thing, but Ten seems to damage companions as often as help them.

[viomisehunt]

I think with Ten the dynamic, or the thinking about the role of the Companion on Doctor Who changed. Moffat and Davies both admit that they wanted to explore the Doctor's emotional/sexual side. But in doing so, the role of the female in the story just boiled down to whether or not the Companion was someone the Doctor wanted or didn't want to shag. No matter how one look at it, the Companion is never any more than the Doctor's invited guest. It's not like he asked them to the share the cost of gasoline and lodging. But with Ten the Companion becomes a "Position", unpaid one at that, rather than a developing relationship. The Doctor is only required to BE, leaving the Companion trying to get by like the Damsel in latest King Kong movie, having to dance to for her life. And watching all three women with Ten, I think the King Kong analogy is pretty good. He's King Kong; he's the biggest, baddest thing in the Space Time arena, you want in, dance to his tone, or take Joe average and go home. In the old show, Liz and Jo were "hired"

[tempestsarekind]

Yes--the way Ten treats his companions seems unpleasantly linked to whether he "loves" that person or not. And one of the things that really soured me on RTD is that he seemed to think that was how things are and should be: the problem with Ten and Martha is that Martha's feelings for the Doctor made things awkward, or that Ten really was hurting over Rose, so poor Martha got a bad deal--but Ten's feelings for Rose should have NO bearing on whether Ten treats Martha with the consideration and respect that she, or anyone, deserves.

Which is one of the things I like about Eleven and Amy: there's a sense that he's trying to make things up to her by inviting her on board; it's not just about his loneliness. And despite the potential awkwardness of Amy's attraction to him, he still treats her with kindness and acts like he enjoys her company.

[viomisehunt]

The Doctor invited Amy when he believed her to be a severely neglected child. This fits in actually with Susan, who, in many canons is not the Doctor's blood relative, but possibly the Granddaughter of the Other, and the last naturally born child of Gallifrey. He took her and the Box (TARDIS) from Gallifrey's past. But the Doctor is not fleeing home with the humans. He does rescue some people who become Companions. Others are stowaways, but he is giving the humans "a treat" when he takes them through time and space. Skip ahead, Gallifrey and whatever the Doctor was rebelling against (he seems a little Lawrence of Arabia, a little Lord Bryan fighting with Greeks....) is gone. Asked to lead, he refuses and runs like hell, until he cannot run any longer. He destroys his planet and has nothing

[tempestsarekind]

Fellow adventurers, yes, but they are not crew.

Quoted for truth. Ten didn't get that--and parts of fandom didn't, either: I remember all of these comments about how Martha sucked because she wasn't the friend that Ten "needed" at that time, and instead kept pushing her emotions into his face or whatever. Which is nonsense, because you couldn't *be* less pushy about your own feelings than Martha is; but even if it were true, Martha doesn't owe the Doctor anything. She gives him her loyalty, but she is not obligated to salve his emotional wounds.

And yes--the bigger problem with RTD's version of the Doctor (especially Ten) was not so much that he tried to make the Doctor "adult" and "dark," but that he then backed off of it and tried to shift the blame for Ten's actions to anyone else around (see also: Harriet Jones).