History Repeating

[nostalgia_lj]

So! Does Moff do the same thing over and over in time-travel stories. I shall count Ones That Have Time Travel as GitF'ace, Blink, "The River Arc," The Eleventh Hour, and the S5 finale. If you object to this, you can yell at me in the comments.

Comments

[lizbee]

(Don't Rusty's reset buttons count? Why not? They fuck with time too, don't they?)

They do, but it's the same problem with all of Voyager's time travel episodes ending with the reset button -- some characters remember what happened (sometimes), others don't, but there's no wider remaining trace of what the universe has experienced. Five years and umpteen invasions, and Sarah Jane and Luke can still pass off the theft of the Earth and invasion by Daleks as, um, a freak wi-fi accident.

With Moff, even when the universe is literally reset, like in "The Big Bang", Amy, River and Rory are still able to eventually remember their experiences. And presumably, if the show returns to Leadworth, we'll see Amy's parents again. So the consequences of the last season affect more people than just the Doctor and whichever companion is still standing.

[nostalgia_lj]

You just reminded me that Harry Kim is dead and nobody else cares :(

[abates]

It's OK, they had a spare. (You mean the season 1 episode with dual Janeways, right?)

[nostalgia_lj]

YAH

[tasty_kate]

And my personal favourite is that River gives us an insight into what it's like for everyone else in the story. Mysterious figure appears seemingly from nowhere, knows stuff we don't, makes vague references to the future, is far too l33t to be real. Remind you of anyone? Anyone... tweedy?

Well put. Take that, River haters.

[nostalgia_lj]

RIVER IS THE DOCTOR FROM THE FUTURE I HAVE PROVED IT.

[tasty_kate]

LOLS THE DOCTOR MAKES OUT WITH HIM/HERSELF.

[nostalgia_lj]

HE SO WOULD AS WELL.

[wolfy_writing]

I think his stuff seems more samey to a lot of people because he's doing variations on an idea that not many people use? Very few Doctor Who writers have done much of anything with the "It's a time machine!" aspect, so he's kind of become That Time Travel Guy

[nostalgia_lj]

ALL MURDER MYSTERIES ARE THE SAME.

...yah, I think it's not helping him that nobody else fucks with time like that.

[wolfy_writing]

I know! There's the body, and the detective (they may try to dress it up by not making it an actual detective, but really, they serve the same function), the murderer, and the solution! No variety!

Yes, it's this thing he keeps doing, only unlike (for example) Rusty's unrequited love thing, it's really unusual, so instead of being seen as varied stories that tend to involve a particular idea, it becomes "This is the same as the other stuff!"

[nostalgia_lj]

If only everyone was exactly like everyone else.

[londonkds]

I think quite a few plotlines for the guest characters in "Blink" are also an attack on the "you have only one person you can ever love" attitude.

[nostalgia_lj]

I have learned never to even look at anyone.

[wolfy_writing]

There's the whole Billy Shipton thing, obviously (they flirt, with every indication that they have the potential to be happy together, but then the angels intervene and he ends up happily married to someone else, while fondly remembering her). The others?

(Also, am I the only one who thinks that Billy Shipton married Kathy Nightingale's daughter, and there was a surprising-for-the-sixties "My mother is totally okay with the interracial thing!" moment?)