'Fear Me, I Killed All Of Them' . Notes on dark!Doctor meta vid.
The image above is a link to a new vid by tv_fan_2008. She very kindly let me preview it last week, asking for feedback. What she got was a lot of flailing & meta, as it is basically the dark!Doctor vid in my head that I am unable to make. I asked her whether she'd like me to write the notes up, and as she thought this was a good idea, here's the accompanying meta to her vid (including her input & corrections, obviously). Watch the vid, and then - if you're interested - come back to dig into all the lovely layers. (This is of course only one aspect of the Doctor, examined in detail...) SPOILERS for everything aired so far.
Quotes
CLIVE: The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He has a storm in his wake. And he has one constant companion.
ROSE: Who's that?
CLIVE: Death.
DAVROS: The man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun. But this is the truth, Doctor: you take ordinary people and you fashion THEM into weapons. Behold your Children of Time transformed into murderers. I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this. [...] How many more? Just think. How many have died in your name? The Doctor... the man who keeps running, never looking back, because he dare not, out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor. I have shown you... yourself.
THE DOCTOR: There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior. A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world.
Hurricane
The beginning - that almost silent opening - sold me instantly. I adore AGMGTW and then blending it in with other battles... Genius. Especially having the different Doctors watching [each other's battles]. Works a treat visually, but also instantly makes the point that the Doctor is the Doctor is the Doctor. Ouroboros. This is important.
No matter how many times that you told me you wanted to leave
Due to various processes, the presence that was questioning the Doctor's motives became the TARDIS, which of course works beautifully.
No matter how many breaths that you took, you still couldn't breathe
No matter how many nights that you lie wide awake to the sound of poison rain
And then these lines easily slotted into place as the moments that the Doctor was facing his death, which of course leads into the 'night's on fire' moment :) (I especially love the shot of Nine to 'poison rain'.)
Where did you go? Where did you go? Where did you go?
And then the happy, daft clips - they remind me of this quote:
MATT SMITH: That's what interests me about The Doctor because, actually, look at the blood on the man's hands... Which is why I think he has to make silly jokes and wear a fez. Because if he didn't, he'd hang himself.
As days go by, the night's on fire
And his death... This is central.
Tell me would you kill to save a life?
Tell me would you kill to prove you're right?
Crash, crash, burn, let it all burn
This hurricane's chasing us all underground
I love how the clips play against the words. (Esp the way it contrasts with the same words later - I'll get to that.) It's all Nine and Ten, threatening or actually killing others - not without reason, but going far beyond 'saving' - often out of anger, or because they've set themselves up as The Final Word. ("No second chances.") The Rachnoss is particularly good, and Cassandra really presses home the point. And then...
THE DOCTOR: Fear me, I've killed all of them.
Eleven, summarising it. This is who he is/what he's capable of - a product of what came before. What you just saw - that's all him. (The words are spoken re. the Time Lords, but in the context of the vid it can be seen as referring to all the clips we just saw & more. Very dark. "To the people of the Gamma Forest the word 'Doctor' means 'Mighty Warrior'...")
No matter how many deaths that I die I will never forget
Oh my heart. Just beautiful. (Love the use of colour.)
No matter how many lives that I live, I will never regret
He'll never regret destroying Skaro. And having that shot of Eleven on Skaro is just incredible. Gives me chills.
There is a fire inside of this heart
And a riot about to explode into flames
MARS! (Couldn't be anything else.)
Where is your God?
EMPEROR DALEK: I reached into the dirt and made new life. I am the God of all Daleks! [...] You would destroy Daleks and Humans together. If I am God, the creator of all things, then what does that make you, Doctor?
THE DOCTOR: Do you see, Jack? That's the decision I've got to make for every living thing. Die as a Human or live as a Dalek. What would you do?
Where is your God?
THE DOCTOR: You're imprisoned. Long time ago. Before the universe, after, sideways, in-between, doesn't matter. The positioning is PERFECT. It's absolutely-- it's eternal. Oh, YES! Open the prison - the gravity field collapses! This planet falls into the black hole! You escape, you die. BRILLIANT! But that's just the body. The body is trapped, that's all. The devil is just an idea. In all those civilisations - just an idea. But an idea is hard to kill. An idea could escape. The mind - the mind of the great Beast - the mind can escape!
Where is your God?
AMY: Where are the guards?
DOCTOR: No need for any. It's all automated. It drifts through space, snatching people with belief systems and converts their faith into food for the creature.
DOCTOR: (translates) "An ancient creature, drenched in the blood of the innocent, drifting in space through an endless, shifting maze. For such a creature, death would be a gift." (kneels and puts his hand on the BEAST’S) Then accept it. And sleep well.
(The Doctor stands and walks away as the BEAST growls again)
DOCTOR: (translates) "I wasn't talking about myself."
Seriously, the whole 'God' section just SLAYS me. ("Basically... run.")
The promises we made were not enough (Never play the game again)
The prayers that we have prayed were like a drug (Never gonna hit the air)
The secrets that we sold were never known (Never sing a song for you)
Nothing to add really - the Companions, and all the other people who put their faith in him/kept his secrets and paid the price. (Although I love the shot of Eleven smiling at the camera at the end of the 'secrets' line. Mmmmm.)
The love we had, the love we had, we had to let it go.
Heartbreaking (especially the Ponds) and love the way the focus is kept on the Doctor's grief on the drawn-out 'go'. This is the flip side to the above - the hurt goes both ways.
(Never giving in again, Never giving in again)
*heart is in a million pieces* PONDS! (They're all lovely, but... Ponds!)
Tell me would you kill to save a life?
Tell me would you kill to prove you're right?
And this is where it gets really interesting, because here the Doctor *is* going to kill in order to save (both when it comes to the Daleks and the Starwhale) and he could have walked away from Wilf and oh, Jex... The clips supporting the lyrics this time. But of course it's not that simple.
Crash, crash, burn, let it all burn
Very deliberately murdering Solomon, because he despises him. Perfect. And no one can say that Solomon's death wasn't deserved. And yet, this is very dangerous ground, because it can lead to the next part.
This hurricane's chasing us all underground
The Family of Blood's brutal punishment, ending with "Timelord Victorious"... This is where his actions can lead, if he's not very, very careful.
Whoa
Do you really want...
Do you really want me?
Do you really want me dead,
Or alive to torture for my sins?
Perfect choice of clips. Especially the one where he's faced with Davros, and the one from A Town Called Mercy, as the way it's shot makes it look as if it's the Doctor who's imprisoned - and indeed, in many ways he is [by his past, by his actions].
Do you really want...
Do you really want me?
Do you really want me dead,
Or alive to live a lie?
And the Silence and River and death (circling back to the beginning) and ridiculously clever use of the lyrics. I am in so much awe. And, at this point, there is the feeling that he might actually deserve it - he is now living a lie, going on to erase himself, and oh, is that good or bad? Doctor Who? What is he going to become? (Does he deserve death - or should he be kept alive to atone? Love or loathe it, S6 is pivotal to the Doctor's continued journey post-Time War.)
And finally - Daleks. (Mirror, mirror... 'Die as a Human or live as a Dalek.' Oh Doctor.)
RORY: Who killed all the Daleks?
DOCTOR: Who do you think?
You might not believe me, but when I first watched this vid, I thought to myself 'I am so pleased that it was the Doctor who killed the Daleks in 'Asylum', rather than Amy, as it seemed when they released the trailer. Because killing things [Daleks] is what he does.' And then came the ending and I almost fell off my chair in delight. That little smirk. The Predator indeed.
KOVARIAN: The anger of a good man is not a problem. Good men have too many rules.
DOCTOR: Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many.