Yay, it makes sense to someone else! Would be most interested to hear why it makes sense to you, too, though, as my own deep meta thoughts are pretty incoherent still.
Considering that in the TVM whenever the TARDIS goes south so does he, that sounds about right. And possibly it's true to a greater or lesser extent with Eight?
Ooh, had not even factored in TVM-I don't think I've seen it since VCRs went away and my 1996 copy was borked thereby. What happens in that domain, specifically?
I'd have to do a think, since I've not seen it in a while (but while I did so I did so repeatedly), but it could be argued that Seven is already weakened by the TARDIS' timing malfunction that the gunmen's bullets and Grace's ministrations are just the last straw for his poor old body.
Later on, Eight is in a state of collapse when the Master manages to hack into his TARDIS, and there seems to be some kind of psychic link with the old girl thereafter, because he figures out immediately who the Master's possessed.
I readily accept this evidence on the grounds that it supports what I want to see proved, but he didn't detect Grace until she whacked him upside the head, did he?
I'll right, I'll try. So I've thought for a long time that the TARDIS might have been sort of… opportunistic, right, when Six was lying there in TatR, and either (a) slightly hijacked the regeneration, or (b) slightly caused it. Seven really is different. All the regenerations are different, obviously, but V 7.0 is far, far more so in his approach-and so, presumably, philosophy-than any of the other phases of himself are to each other.
Not immediately, no. He's pretty normal for himself in season 24, but when Ace comes along, it's like a program's switched on. Suddenly, we get all the Big Bad Gallifrey references of the Cartmel master plan, including the infamous "so much more than just another Time Lord" bit-I mean, come on. Previously, would the Doctor, the guy who spent his own trial drawing political cartoons of the court personages, have been caught dead saying something that… that… Time Lord-y? And suddenly, of course, he's constantly playing out master plans. The king of improvisation is now the king of the Xanatos
( ... )
I think that's a brilliant bit of fanon. Having taken on a more non-linear perspective from the TARDIS would explain a lot of the scheme-y stuff. (Though I think it's possible to overplay Seven's masterplanning. He does have complicated schemes that he's secretive about, but very often they go wrong and it's only his improvisational talents that get him through [didn't factor in the two Dalek factions in Remembrance, that sort of thing]. Maybe the key elements of both TARDIS and Doctor are needed for it to actually work?)
ETA: Actually, another thing your theory helps explain is all the bits involving super-powerful Time Lord artifacts and why he suddenly revisits them now. The idea that One deliberately nicked the Hand of Omega doesn't make much sense in the context of what we actually see in his era, but if that was more the TARDIS that grabbed it on the way out, and he just decided to ditch it on Earth 'cos he was scared of it ...
He does have complicated schemes that he's secretive about, but very often they go wrong
LOL Seven. ♥ This is why I tend to fanonize that he's about 2% TARDIS and 98% Doctor--which is a good thing, as he'd be dead boring, otherwise.
Actually, another thing your theory helps explain is all the bits involving super-powerful Time Lord artifacts and why he suddenly revisits them now.Excellent point. I gather that the Cartmel Master Plan had the Doctor figuring as the "Other" and hobnobbing with Rassilon and Omega, but it's a bit... Wagnerian, not in a flattering way. I don't like the idea of the Doctor needing to have that kind of mythos to be important, or the value scheme it would seem to impose on the rest of Whoniverse, when it always felt before like the argument was that deeds and character and people speak for themselves and have their own importance. Besides which, frankly it's just kind of naff
( ... )
By the by, I do think that much of V. 7.0's sudden changes in behavior are to do with Ace, but there's the question IMO of how he came to be ready to commit to Ace as he did anyway, when he hasn't been up for that sort of thing in centuries if in fact ever...
Bear with me for a moment; I'm tired and I'm never good at expressing my more vague ideas. But I believe this instant and intense commitment to Ace is the Doctor's unintentional/unconscious response to Fenric's manipulation.
He/It/Whatever was playing that long game, setting it up for centuries. Ace was the end product of a long line of genetic manipulation, perfectly made to be what He/It needed her to be. Literally made, molded, and set-up to be an irresistible puzzle for the Doctor. A trap he just couldn't help but fall into, an appeal to his egotism: Here's this exceptional mind and kindred spirit but opps guess what else she's carrying around with her? Solve it if you can, bwah hah hah. And the Doctor, knowing there's no good way out of this, can't help but respond to
( ... )
I believe this instant and intense commitment to Ace is the Doctor's unintentional/unconscious response to Fenric's manipulation.... an irresistible puzzle for the Doctor. A trap he just couldn't help but fall into, an appeal to his egotism... Then things get further messed up when he starts seeing her as more than a walking puzzle...
A thousand times yes. You've nailed the character dynamic, methinks. And in my personal fanon, it's because he's about 2% TARDIS and 98% Doctor that it's really deadly.
One thing still strikes me as odd about their relationship's kick-off, though: that he recognized her as one of Fenric's in the first place. The time storm thing was certainly an indication that something was up, and I can imagine how over the course of their acquaintence, as he collected more clues, he'd be able to pin her down as a Wolf of Fenric--but right away? He seems to have done; if he hadn't understood what was going on, he would have been investigating. So, my preferred fanwank is that the TARDIS recognized Fenric's
( ... )
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Later on, Eight is in a state of collapse when the Master manages to hack into his TARDIS, and there seems to be some kind of psychic link with the old girl thereafter, because he figures out immediately who the Master's possessed.
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I readily accept this evidence on the grounds that it supports what I want to see proved, but he didn't detect Grace until she whacked him upside the head, did he?
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Not immediately, no. He's pretty normal for himself in season 24, but when Ace comes along, it's like a program's switched on. Suddenly, we get all the Big Bad Gallifrey references of the Cartmel master plan, including the infamous "so much more than just another Time Lord" bit-I mean, come on. Previously, would the Doctor, the guy who spent his own trial drawing political cartoons of the court personages, have been caught dead saying something that… that… Time Lord-y? And suddenly, of course, he's constantly playing out master plans. The king of improvisation is now the king of the Xanatos ( ... )
Reply
ETA: Actually, another thing your theory helps explain is all the bits involving super-powerful Time Lord artifacts and why he suddenly revisits them now. The idea that One deliberately nicked the Hand of Omega doesn't make much sense in the context of what we actually see in his era, but if that was more the TARDIS that grabbed it on the way out, and he just decided to ditch it on Earth 'cos he was scared of it ...
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LOL Seven. ♥ This is why I tend to fanonize that he's about 2% TARDIS and 98% Doctor--which is a good thing, as he'd be dead boring, otherwise.
Actually, another thing your theory helps explain is all the bits involving super-powerful Time Lord artifacts and why he suddenly revisits them now.Excellent point. I gather that the Cartmel Master Plan had the Doctor figuring as the "Other" and hobnobbing with Rassilon and Omega, but it's a bit... Wagnerian, not in a flattering way. I don't like the idea of the Doctor needing to have that kind of mythos to be important, or the value scheme it would seem to impose on the rest of Whoniverse, when it always felt before like the argument was that deeds and character and people speak for themselves and have their own importance. Besides which, frankly it's just kind of naff ( ... )
Reply
Bear with me for a moment; I'm tired and I'm never good at expressing my more vague ideas. But I believe this instant and intense commitment to Ace is the Doctor's unintentional/unconscious response to Fenric's manipulation.
He/It/Whatever was playing that long game, setting it up for centuries. Ace was the end product of a long line of genetic manipulation, perfectly made to be what He/It needed her to be. Literally made, molded, and set-up to be an irresistible puzzle for the Doctor. A trap he just couldn't help but fall into, an appeal to his egotism: Here's this exceptional mind and kindred spirit but opps guess what else she's carrying around with her? Solve it if you can, bwah hah hah. And the Doctor, knowing there's no good way out of this, can't help but respond to ( ... )
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A thousand times yes. You've nailed the character dynamic, methinks. And in my personal fanon, it's because he's about 2% TARDIS and 98% Doctor that it's really deadly.
One thing still strikes me as odd about their relationship's kick-off, though: that he recognized her as one of Fenric's in the first place. The time storm thing was certainly an indication that something was up, and I can imagine how over the course of their acquaintence, as he collected more clues, he'd be able to pin her down as a Wolf of Fenric--but right away? He seems to have done; if he hadn't understood what was going on, he would have been investigating. So, my preferred fanwank is that the TARDIS recognized Fenric's ( ... )
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