The United Self: How the Doctor Healed Himself (2/2)

[sensiblecat]

Below you'll find the second part of myanalysis of the Doctor's decline and fall as Ten, followed by his rehabilitation as Eleven. We've now reached Part Two, where I trace his moral and emotional journey through the Specials.

Thanks are in order to elisi whose own meta has so often inspired me, to Sonic Biro for all those wonderful screencaps, and to

Comments

[topaz_eyes]

*applauds* Love this! I never thought of how the praise and fanboying of TND and PotD contributed to Ten's delusion of grandeur, but it fits perfectly.

Now, disclaimer: I love "The End of Time." Its emphasis on families saves the episode for me.

The Doctor and Ten meeting in the quarry I think is symbolic, in that they're like two lost children who find each other in the wasteland. I can't help but think Rassilon is presented as a father figure as well, symbolizing how Ten is caught between his Time Lord heritage and humanity (via Wilf). I think it's fascinating how Ten hesitates with the gun. He can't see the third, correct way until the Woman in White (RTD's confirmed she was his mother) points at the White Point Star. It's like she's the catalyst to resolve his Time Lord conflict, as Wilf is to resolve the human one. There's also something in how Ten has his mother's approval to destroy Gallifrey, and that confirms his decision was the right one.

The Master, ironically, is the one who delivers the Doctor from the epic

[sensiblecat]

The Doctor and Ten meeting in the quarry I think is symbolic, in that they're like two lost children who find each other in the wasteland. I can't help but think Rassilon is presented as a father figure as well, symbolizing how Ten is caught between his Time Lord heritage and humanity (via Wilf). I think it's fascinating how Ten hesitates with the gun. He can't see the third, correct way until the Woman in White (RTD's confirmed she was his mother) points at the White Point Star. It's like she's the catalyst to resolve his Time Lord conflict, as Wilf is to resolve the human one. There's also something in how Ten has his mother's approval to destroy Gallifrey, and that confirms his decision was the right one.Yes, fathers have so many different facets to them, don't they. They can be wise and unassuming, or severe, authoritarian and immovable. At their worst, fathers want their sons to be exactly like them and annihilate them if they refuse. It may also fit that the Time Lords aspire to lose their physical form completely. That's the

[sensiblecat]

Thanks so much! I've been accused of hating Ten, because I'm so aware of his faults, but his faults are what make him so utterly fascinating. And though I thought long and hard about nailing my colours to the mast re Rose, in the end it had to be said. So glad you enjoyed!

[elisi]

This is really, really good.

I'm too tired to pull out quotes, but I'm reminded of this post that I wrote last year (well, post-S5).

Ten is mesmerising. He's like Wesley from Buffy & Angel (did you ever read that post where I compared them?). Gorgeously, gorgeously broken, capable of incredible things. And also scary as hell, and so incapable of looking beyond his own pain that he never really sees other people.

It is utterly captivating, yet by the end I was hurrying him along to his death, because quite frankly I just wanted the poor thing to be put out of his misery and find some peace.

Anyway, excellent observations in tracing his downwards spiral in the Specials, something I'd never really paid enough attention to. Thank you.

[sensiblecat]

I find it much easier to watch the Specials now and I think that's because I can put them into a wider context, to see them as the low point of a story that continued and brought Eleven to a much calmer and happier place. One thing I enjoyed doing, as I delved into them, was looking at how the earlier Specials, which tend to get overlooked (apart from WoM) set up the themes that developed fully in EOT.

I also find I can be rather more forgiving of RTD now because I realise that he was trying to do the impossible, and sometimes it's better to attempt the impossible and partly fail than to stay within your comfort zone.

[elisi]

Everything always more sense in context, which is why I'm usually wary of making judgements until I know where a story is going. And props to RTD - I like that he followed through on what he'd set up. I can't count how many posts I saw after WoM aired, which just linked to 'Handlebars'. I would have had far less respect for him if he'd shied away from going all the way.

One thing which I meant to comment on:

or the Tenth Doctor reunited at the last moment with Rose?

I still maintain, unpopular I know, that the last solution would have felt right. It was, in fact, what RTD intended to do until he wrote himself into a corner with the S4 finale and needed two Doctors to get out of it.
OK, he did write himself into a corner with the S4 finale, but he always meant to use the hand to grow a human Doctor for Rose, to tie up her story. The S4 ending was awkward in how it played out, but it was part of a long term plan. /has read The Writers Tale too much

[joking]

You did a good job of contrasting Ten to Eleven. Think of the grace with which Eleven faces his own destruction in "The Big Bang" and in "Closing Time" - that says it all.

[sensiblecat]

Both episodes that involve beautiful, low-key ineractions with children. I don't think that's a coincidence.