darker readings of the doctor (courtesty RTD)
probably others have noticed this, but in case not. . .
1. the surface reading: as martha tells folks in her story, the doctor helps everyone and leaves, never asking to be thanked. heroic, right?
2. the darker reading:
a. the master looked into the vortex and heard the sound of drums: this is the keystone to his character. the doctor looked into the vortex and ran away ("i never stopped."). by implication, this is the key to his character: he helps and then *runs* *away*. it's not that he doesn't want to be thanked. it's that he has a problem doing anything but running away.
b. each season finale has been triggered not only because of the doctor's previous actions, but because he took action and then left instead of seeing what the consequences of his actions would be. the season finale events happen because the doctor runs away too quickly. so:
i. the doctor leaves satellite 5 so quickly, assuming everything goes back to normal, that he doesn't find out that everything is worse. the daleks might not have set up the game station, or might not have been able to so quickly, if his interference hadn't caused an information collapse. this triggers the first season finale.
ii. the doctor leaves pete's world (alt. earth) as soon as the TARDIS can take off, even though he knows there are still cybermen about. this triggers the second season finale.
iii. the doctor sets up harriet jones to be run out of office, looks a bit pleased with himself about it, and never checks back to see if perhaps he has created a power vacuum. the master takes advantage of the instability. the doctor's panicked freezing of the tardis's coordinates sends the master to earth is the primary trigger, but without the instability in the british government, it's not clear that the master would have been able to succeed, or at least succeed so quickly and well.
. . . and all of this co-exists with the doctor being super-cool and becoming a glowy floaty jesus. this despite that there is at least one major difference between the doctor and jesus: no-one would mistake the doctor for a gardener.*
*cuz it takes patience. (if, like me until recently, you didn't know how much patience gardening takes, check out how long most fruit trees/shrubs/brambles take before they actually bear fruit.)
1. the surface reading: as martha tells folks in her story, the doctor helps everyone and leaves, never asking to be thanked. heroic, right?
2. the darker reading:
a. the master looked into the vortex and heard the sound of drums: this is the keystone to his character. the doctor looked into the vortex and ran away ("i never stopped."). by implication, this is the key to his character: he helps and then *runs* *away*. it's not that he doesn't want to be thanked. it's that he has a problem doing anything but running away.
b. each season finale has been triggered not only because of the doctor's previous actions, but because he took action and then left instead of seeing what the consequences of his actions would be. the season finale events happen because the doctor runs away too quickly. so:
i. the doctor leaves satellite 5 so quickly, assuming everything goes back to normal, that he doesn't find out that everything is worse. the daleks might not have set up the game station, or might not have been able to so quickly, if his interference hadn't caused an information collapse. this triggers the first season finale.
ii. the doctor leaves pete's world (alt. earth) as soon as the TARDIS can take off, even though he knows there are still cybermen about. this triggers the second season finale.
iii. the doctor sets up harriet jones to be run out of office, looks a bit pleased with himself about it, and never checks back to see if perhaps he has created a power vacuum. the master takes advantage of the instability. the doctor's panicked freezing of the tardis's coordinates sends the master to earth is the primary trigger, but without the instability in the british government, it's not clear that the master would have been able to succeed, or at least succeed so quickly and well.
. . . and all of this co-exists with the doctor being super-cool and becoming a glowy floaty jesus. this despite that there is at least one major difference between the doctor and jesus: no-one would mistake the doctor for a gardener.*
*cuz it takes patience. (if, like me until recently, you didn't know how much patience gardening takes, check out how long most fruit trees/shrubs/brambles take before they actually bear fruit.)