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14 May 2017 at 03:23 #57424
@tardigrade The Doctor may be vulnerable right now, but he was still able to save the day without his sight in this story. Perhaps he will find a way to work with/around his disability, however long it lasts. But yes, this would also be a good reason to team up with the Master/Missy…especially since the next few episodes (possibly until the season finale) look to be Earthbound ones.
Now the Master/Missy at least thinks s/he knows the Doctor well, but so well that s/he could tell he’s infirm or dead from afar? Hmmm…and it’s still possible that whatever’s in the vault is less a threat to the Earth than the Earth is to it! What if Earth were to react very badly to…
Meanwhile, I’ve started rattling a tin cup at Tumblr to ask for alms for the poor blind Time Lord. (Seriously, I almost cried at that reveal. He gave up his eyes to save Bill…)
@jimthefish, The whole Capaldi tenure has been giving me a strong Hinchcliffe-era vibe, and yes, this has been an particularly exceptional run of episodes.
@pedant, As far as controversy goes, next week’s episode does involve the Vatican…
13 May 2017 at 08:10 #57378Hey @pufferfish, the idea that the Doctor may have spent time traveling elsewhere between those last two scenes in “The Pilot” isn’t farfetched — or unprecedented. The idea floated that the Ninth Doctor had a much longer life than depicted on screen was the basis for the short story “The Beast of Babylon” (from the 50th anniversary anthology 11 Doctors 11 Stories). According to it, between his briefly leaving Rose then coming back again in the final scene of “Rose”, Nine traveled for about 100 years, mostly alone. In the short story, he takes on a temporary companion — I won’t say why it had to be temporary — but she learns that he kind of misses Rose and recommends he return to her for further travels. And so it goes.
(Later, the anthology added the Twelfth Doctor story “Lights Out”, which is strongly suggested to take place between “Deep Breath” and “Into the Dalek”, explaining why he was away so long getting the coffee for Clara.)
@ichabod and @missy, I think the Doctor is at hearts a good man. (There’s some interesting discussion of this in the “A New Kind of Hero” featurette on the “Return of Doctor Mysterio” DVD.) Thing is — especially with Twelve — as the musical Into the Woods puts it, “Nice is different than good.” Sometimes, the way to get the most-good outcome is to do a lot of less than nice things, to be less than tender with people’s feelings. And…well, I think going back to Series 8, Twelve isn’t nice to all those poor souls who end up in the Nethersphere, but Missy is. “Nice” can easily fill a hole where “good” would otherwise be.
(Deposits $0.02)
11 May 2017 at 12:56 #57354At this point, with all the hints dropped in and out of universe, it is most likely The Master/Missy in the vault. But since there’s still the possibility the Doctor is protecting him/her, what is it from? Perhaps that’s the REAL arc this season, especially considering that Missy turns up again in the finale…the first half of which (“World Enough and Time”) has a title derived from Andrew Marvell’s poem “To His Coy Mistress“.
11 May 2017 at 12:48 #57353@jimthefish and others, the early reviews for Alien: Covenant have been dreadful, alas.
As for the trend you mention Jim the Fish, this is all too true, and not just with belated sequels. The Beauty and the Beast remake was, in many ways, slavishly faithful to the original film even as it translated the look of a cel-animated feature into a different medium — much dialogue used verbatim, similar staging in some of the musical numbers, etc. But it added next to nothing of substance in its additional 40 minutes of screentime.
8 May 2017 at 18:35 #57272Also, all this talk about how the Doctor would be mad at Missy, cause he now knows about her involvement in Clara, or any of that kind of theorising about the Doctor remembering things about Clara has a fundamental flaw – before that kind of theorising takes place we would have to establish he consiously remembers her in the first place.
Point taken. Still, at the very least the Doctor knows there’s a Clara-shaped hole in his memory, and in “Hell Bent” he admitted to Clara-the-waitress that he was looking for her…
@arbutus The “care” theme looks to be a pretty strong one in this series; if the “episode guide” Moffat released to the Radio Times is any indication, it’s crucial to the finale and the Doctor’s actions in it.
8 May 2017 at 11:40 #57255@mersey In the expanded universe of the Big Finish audios, specifically the New Eighth Doctor Adventures range, the Eighth Doctor and an older Susan Foreman interacted in several stories, but post-Last Great Time War her status is “unknown”.
@pedant, Of course another reason it’s probably not Clara in the vault is that having her be key to the story arc would take away from Bill’s role in it all. It would be interesting to have Me be in the vault, but why would the Doctor still care about her after the hand she had in his sorrows in Series 9? I still don’t understand why he just let her follow him onto TARDIS 2.0, as he seemed still unwilling to forgive her.
Actually, the whole Series 9 business would seem to be a reason why it can’t be the Master/Missy. Now that he has an understanding of how s/he hoped to ruin him by pairing him with Clara and creating the Hybrid, I would imagine his fondness for his crazy misguided frienemy is not as strong.
My never-going-to-happen, pie-in-the-sky choice for the vault is the real Hybrid, the one whose identity the Doctor really did want to protect… 😉
7 May 2017 at 12:49 #57214@mudlark Good points about the relationship between the Doctor and the occupant of the vault. I latch on to the idea that, as he sees it, they’re both prisoners. I think the nature of the oath, who it was made to, etc. will reveal much about what’s going on.
As far as misdirection goes, well, look at what happened with the mystery of the Hybrid last year! 😉
7 May 2017 at 12:40 #57212I liked this episode, particularly the strong reveals in the climax. “Thin Ice” is still my favorite so far, but this built to something (and then tore it down to the foundations!).
There are definitely threads coming together. There’s the Doctor’s deepening relationship with his mock-granddaughter…yet another menace that isn’t malicious, as @pedant notes…promises/oaths/arrangements that are better off broken in the end…how does it all relate to Who’s In the Vault, and the Doctor’s relationship with it? And yes, it is a big deal to know that the Doctor does not seem to fear it, and even treats it with the sympathy for the devil (give or take a Rassilon) that is a hallmark of Twelve’s tenure.
Also, loved his wonderful thoughtlessness with Bill and her friends in the wrap-up. “Back to the estate agent!” That’s our Twelfth Doctor! 😀
5 May 2017 at 04:22 #571144 May 2017 at 11:12 #57081@ichabod I agree with you that even though the first few episodes have been a bit lighter than we’ve come to expect from the Capaldi tenure, it’s probably building up to something big, perhaps sooner than we think. At about this point in Series 9, we’d had the character drama of the Davros 2-parter and the base-under-siege horror fare of the Fisher King, but looking back they were the “lightest” stories of the season, and still turned out to have a lot of foreshadowing of the season finale — particularly the latter, which on the surface seemed to have the least to do with the arc (aside from the one-off of “Sleep No More”) but in hindsight was as much a part of it as anything. Then we had the Ashildr/Me thread introduced with episode five, and things took a deeper turn.
As for where things are going, I notice that for all the speculation about What’s In the Vault, there hasn’t been much about who the Doctor made the promise/oath to with regards to guarding the vault. It would be easy to guess the Time Lords, given the vault’s exterior, but then why would he be dealing with those backstabbers again? And given his general dislike of authority, it’s hard to imagine any “celestial body” that could win his favor and agreement to — more or less! — put his wanderlust on a shelf for decades for, apparently, little or no reward. Or…did he make the promise to what/whoever’s in the vault? What was that thing that happened, anyway? 😉
2 May 2017 at 07:36 #57026– the vault “what’s he told you?” seemed important; this won’t be a monster to fear, but one that deserves our sympathy. Maybe something that has taken 50 years to ‘cook’ (such as a body to be possessed by the next regeneration..?)
Hmm, this would be in keeping with the “monsters” so far this season…Pilot!Heather, the Vardy, the loch-less monster. None of them were malicious by nature…they just didn’t understand and/or were being exploited by others. And they’re all, effectively, set free in the end. Freed of chains, of programming, of…oaths…or promises…don’t mind me, I’m just overthinking things again. 😉
30 April 2017 at 12:43 #56924I was particularly excited for this episode and quite pleased with it — I think it’s the best of the season to date. Bill grilling the Doctor over the death and destruction he’s seen and sometimes perpetrated, and his responses, near brought me to tears. Looking forward to “Knock Knock” next week, and what’s that knocking in the vault anyway? 😉
30 April 2017 at 12:34 #56923@pedant, I know the Hugo competition is a lot tougher these days than it was before for Who and it has no hope of winning this year. It’s the downside of the peak TV era, everybody’s upping their game and catching up with it! Still, Twelve’s era has one more shot next year and already there’s been “Thin Ice” this season…
29 April 2017 at 18:13 #56869I noticed @pedant, but I doubt it will win if “Listen” and “Heaven Sent” couldn’t manage wins in their eligibility years (they lost to episodes of Orphan Black and Jessica Jones, respectively). Sadly, the Twelfth Doctor era looks to be the only one of the revival that goes empty-handed at the Hugos….he never catches a break, on or off screen!
27 April 2017 at 18:42 #56801I didn’t like this one as much as “The Pilot” — as the AVClub review noted, this the sort of a standard issue “breaking in the new character (either a Doctor or companion) by taking them to the future” episode we’ve been seeing in the revival since “The End of the World” (and there were stories like this in the classic series too) — but I liked it. It’s interesting how character-focused it managed to be. I’m really intrigued about the first “past” story for Bill with “Thin Ice” coming up!
Also, was I the only one who drew a line from the shepherd’s boy to the magic haddock?
24 April 2017 at 06:35 #56636An intriguing question, @ichabod. Perhaps it is not just that the promise has a strong hold on the Doctor, but his loneliness as well. Nardole is a fine valet, but the Doctor’s loneliness after so much loss still runs deep. Perhaps he was thankful for something to keep him “grounded”, as it were, instead of curling up into a ball of sorrow. People came and went for 50+ years, none of them quite exciting his curiosity enough for him to reach out again, to excite his wanderlust. But at last it’s begun to chafe, and Bill comes along…
16 April 2017 at 21:45 #56304@pedant Excellent observation, especially given that the season finale is to be Cyber-centric.
16 April 2017 at 20:53 #56290@joshamus, That vault is a mystery! Is it possible that whatever’s in that vault might need protection from the universe as much as the universe needs protection from it? Or even more so? 😀
16 April 2017 at 17:50 #56274@jimthefish Ooer, there’s too much vanilla entertainment right now, at the movies and stuff. Though I like vanilla ice cream, so I’d use the word <i>bland</i> instead! 😉
16 April 2017 at 05:20 #56241@thane15 I hope you and Puro keep on keeping on!
16 April 2017 at 03:30 #56230Woohoo! Yes, what is in the vault? And what is The Promise that holds the lonely, restless Doctor to it, and would tempt him to give up a new friend in such a painful way?
Cool to see lots of old school shout-outs (Movellans!). And the last few minutes were packed with feels. Bill is already both awesome and sweet as sugar, and I like Nardole more and more with each appearance.
I’ll probably be awash in tears by season’s end…
15 April 2017 at 16:09 #56210@jimthefish I tried to leave a comment on your blog post about Twelve, his ambiguity, and how audiences have taken (or not) to him, but it doesn’t seem to have taken. Anyway, I thought it was very thoughtful and well-written.
15 April 2017 at 16:08 #56209@missy Sorry to hear you had to put up with bullies too. And for such a petty reason! I tried fighting back for a while, but I was the one who got in trouble more often than not. But turning the other cheek and/or asking for help didn’t work either, and my parents didn’t want to try standing up to the system on my behalf. All I could do was wait it out. Luckily I was a good enough student to graduate high school one year early, and I visited a psychologist in the interim. That whole process was how we found out I was autistic.
11 April 2017 at 16:43 #56100@ichabod Lucky you! I know there are other people who enjoy Who in my neck of the woods, but we’re not organized, and not all of the Fathom Events screenings make it to my area. As I recall we got the 3D Series 8 finale and “The Power of the Daleks”, but not Twelve’s most recent Xmas specials. It does look like the Series 10 premiere/Class double feature is coming to a neighboring town next week, though, and they’ll definitely get the Rifftrax “Five Doctors” special in August.
11 April 2017 at 16:35 #56099@ichabod and @jimthefish, you’re both probably right. The Doctor’s lives are all about the dizzying highs, the terrifying lows, the creamy middles (to nick from The Simpsons). Wouldn’t be surprised if the season finale is a bit gruesome, given that the whole nature of the Cybermen is on the gruesome side.
I certainly do want Twelve to stay for one “last Christmas” in any case, so that Moffat article is heartening.
11 April 2017 at 16:27 #56098Thanks for the RT link @jimthefish. So far there have been some interesting Facebook comments on the article too — one saying let’s be kind not only to each other but the people who make the show! 😉
Me, I don’t think I would have survived in a world of cyberbullies. I graduated from the horrors of high school just before the Internet really became a thing, and those were bad enough. In fact it was something that wound up enriching my life instead. I got to know the online world because I became interested in Who.
10 April 2017 at 21:12 #56069I just thought of something regarding that last episode title, but I can’t edit my last post.
The painting’s correct title was Gallifrey Falls No More…
So “The Doctor Falls”…???
10 April 2017 at 21:02 #56068@jimthefish, Moffat has promised that Saxon and Missy will meet face to face at some point in the story, which seems to be an expansive one, rambling over a three-parter (“Extremis”, “The Pyramid at the End of the World”, and “The Lie of the Land”) — and apparently several time periods and locales.
And the finale two-parter has had its titles released: “World Enough and Time” and “The Doctor Falls”.
But does he fall to something, into something, or what? 😉
10 April 2017 at 19:52 #56066Just found out about this — at least in the U.S., the cinema screenings of “The Pilot” (April 17 and 19) are actually a double-bill with the first episode of Class!
Also, in related news — I don’t know if I’m the only Whovian here who also loves Mystery Science Theater 3000, but even as that show is about to get a revival on Netflix, the spiritual successor series Rifftrax (which features several performers from the original MST3K) has announced that they will be poking fun at “The Five Doctors” in a live show that will be streamed to U.S. movie theaters August 17.
Anyone interested in these shows (I have attended several of them and they are great fun) should check out http://www.fathomevents.com, which handles all of them.
10 April 2017 at 19:36 #56065Personally, I think if they really did intend to regenerate the Doctor prior to the Christmas show, they wouldn’t have teased it in the trailer. I’m in the camp that there’s more to this than meets the eye — that it’s setting up something different. Part of this stems from the fact that Moffat is writing the Christmas show, and it would be weird for him to be the one establishing the personality, etc. of Thirteen when that character’s going to be part of Chibnall’s tenure as showrunner. Also, if Ten and Eleven warranted Christmas grand finales plus additional specials in the lead-up to them, but Twelve doesn’t even get a “last Christmas”, it wouldn’t feel fair to Twelve fans.
Generally, whenever something really big is openly teased these days, it turns out to be more — or less — than meets the eye. Some people initially thought Clara would be the real problem in “Dark Water”/”Death in Heaven” thanks to the trailers; that hid the surprises of Danny’s sudden death at the top of the story and the revelation that Missy was the Master. In Series 9, there were weeks of speculation about who Maisie Williams’ character really was based solely on the “What took you so long, old man?” line (a lot of people wondered if she could be Ace, Susan, etc.). Some even wondered if the Doctor would be the one who regenerated (or just came close to such) in “Hell Bent”, even though we all knew that that couldn’t happen just because “The Husbands of River Song” had long since been announced as a Twelve story! Not to mention that many people didn’t expect “Hell Bent” to be more about the Doctor and Clara’s endgame than his return to Gallifrey, given that it was his first post-Time War visit there. (Until the episode aired, there was still the possibility that the Clara in the diner was an echo.) There’s still some sourness in the fandom over “Hell Bent” not being a colossal space opera.
Also, with regards to regeneration energy, we know that the Doctor can transfer his to others — heck, transferring it to his severed hand helped create the clone of Ten — and that it can save others from death’s door, though not revive the dead altogether. And the Doctor can put off regenerating through force of will…And who’s to say that someone couldn’t try to steal it from the Doctor? So there’s a lot of potential being teased here… 🙂
EDIT: Finally, speaking of Gallifrey…am I the only one who finds it suspicious that it and the other Time Lords haven’t been brought up at all yet? Isn’t he technically a fugitive for abdicating his Lord President post and trying to save Clara? Doesn’t he have some unfinished business with Ohila at least? And I know at least one fan who wants to see an episode with Twelve facing the Weeping Angels…again, why would he not get an opportunity that Ten and Eleven did, considering how popular those villains are?
10 April 2017 at 19:10 #56064@missy They should be airing “The Pilot” (the Series 10 premiere) on TV where you live if I’m not mistaken. Thing is, in the last few years it’s been common to also have special one or two-night movie theater screenings of “event” episodes of Who, usually a few days after the television broadcast premiere.
This goes back to the international theatrical screenings of a 3D version of “The Day of the Doctor” in 2013. Since then, here in the U.S. there have been screenings of “Deep Breath”, a 3D version of “Dark Water”/”Death in Heaven” that also included the public debut of the “Doctor’s Meditation” short, “The Husbands of River Song”, a movie edit of the “Power of the Daleks” reconstruction, and “The Return of Doctor Mysterio”. Apparently these screenings are rather popular, so they’re doing it again with this season premiere.
27 March 2017 at 17:17 #55873Cool, someone’s finally doing a Doctor Who “aftershow”! I wish there was one of those in the U.S. There are aftershows for Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, and Orphan Black — there was even one for the ill-fated network drama Smash — but I think this is the first for Who.
27 March 2017 at 17:12 #55872@craig and @pedant I suppose I’ll have to catch up with Arrival sometime. I’ve heard almost nothing but great things, and how it’s a movie we need right now. As for the awards groups, well, they rarely ever appreciate science fiction and fantasy as they should. Look how they’ve been passing over Doctor Who lately! 😉
27 March 2017 at 17:07 #55871@missy Well, they both played the Intelligence, after a fashion. McKellan provided the voice of its disembodied form in “The Snowmen” only, while Grant played its physical host/form in it and later appearances. 🙂
As for Beauty and the Beast, a lot of people seem to love it, so maybe you and your husband will too. Takes all kinds, and I am often the odd person out, emphasis on odd.
23 March 2017 at 09:56 #55849@ichabod Mad times indeed. (Hugs for those who need them) One of the saddest things about these disasters right now is that while the officials, etc. in the U.K. are handling this with grace and dignity, it is not a guarantee that those in power elsewhere will. Many people will turn this into just another political football to kick around to advance their agendas, and lose sight of the real losses.
21 March 2017 at 17:28 #55840@ichabod I’m a theatre buff too, and I’ve heard a lot about the Groundhog Day musical from its original run in Stratford-on-Avon. (The creative team was responsible for the very much loved stage version of Roald Dahl’s Matilda, so there was a lot of advance hope and hype for this one.) Some people who have seen it there or in previews in N.Y.C. love it, but others think it just doesn’t translate to stage musical terms.
Mainstream musical theatre has been big on adapting movies to the stage for the past two decades or so. Disney has made beaucoup bucks with such productions (Frozen arrives next spring), and alongside Groundhog Day Broadway’s about to see stage versions of Amelie and the non-Disney animated feature Anastasia this spring alone!
Also another spring entry, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, is technically an adaptation of Dahl’s most famous children’s novel rather than either of its film adaptations, but they’re working a bunch of songs from the famous 1971 film into an otherwise new score. I saw that show in the West End in 2014, and at that point it only incorporated one old song and was a fabulous, fresh adaptation of the book. But apparently that’s not good enough for audiences who prefer reheated leftovers. Which is a good way to describe that Beauty and the Beast remake: Reheated leftovers, stretched out with some starchy filler.
18 March 2017 at 12:03 #55824I saw Disney’s much-hyped Beauty and the Beast remake yesterday morning. Oof, it was bad.
I was 13 when the original animated movie came out and it’s my favorite Disney film, and one of my favorite movies period. I watched it again a few weeks ago, and it more than holds up — just 84 minutes with credits, but it’s alive with joy, melodrama, and humor.
This remake is 129 minutes with credits, but not only is little of substance added (who wants to hear about Belle AND the Beast’s deceased mums?), even when it’s just sticking to near-recreations of the original’s songs and setpieces, it’s lifeless. There’s no building of tension or atmosphere; a comparison I’ve heard (the Chicago Tribune pan) is to a stage musical that’s on its second national tour and 300th performance, when everybody’s just going through the motions. There are some intentionally funny moments and good supporting performances, but the leads are flat (it doesn’t help that this is one of the least-beastly Beasts ever), the singing is serviceable, and much of the knockabout humor of the original is gone. This should be a tearjerking melodrama to the nth degree, but my eyes were dry except for about 30 seconds involving Belle’s mum’s backstory, which was expertly handled.
I will admit that the half-full audience around me, mostly women around my age, loved this film. I felt bad for not being able to be swept up in it all.
I do have to wonder how much better this film could have been if Rachel Talalay directed it! She knows a thing or two about mysterious castles and broody heroes. 😉
Who-connection — the Great Intelligence of “The Snowmen”, Sir Ian McKellan, plays Cogsworth the clock here.
15 March 2017 at 00:59 #55798@thane15 You’ve got guts Puro! Hooray for you standing up for what’s right! 😉 Whenever I read anti-Twelve era comments “out there” my weak heart crumbles but I can’t bring myself to chew others out in “public” on anything. I don’t have much backbone.
I’m excited by the new trailer too! <3
10 March 2017 at 15:01 #55771(hugs) I know I missed you Missy!
Meanwhile, I found this interesting Hollywood rumor story that brings up an interesting question — is it possible for any kind of entertainment to be truly “escapist” right now?
http://www.avclub.com/article/jimmy-fallon-pressured-be-more-political-compete-s-251778
I’ve noticed that virtually every major-league TV show, movie, stage play, etc., no matter what their intent, is getting heavily scruntized, criticized, and other-ized via various socio-cultural lenses at the moment. Even though it’s still a week until its release, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast remake — a family musical — has already launched a bunch of thinkpieces and controversies (Does the story romanticize Stockholm syndrome? Is the choice to make a minor character homosexual too much or not enough?).
I really wonder how Doctor Who Series 10 is going to fare in this climate… 😉
10 March 2017 at 14:59 #55770@thane15 and other Buffy fans should know that one of the best entertainment news/commentary websites, the A.V. Club, has been posting new interviews, retrospectives, and the like all this week to mark the anniversary. This tag has links to them, in reverse order of posting.
http://www.avclub.com/tag/buffy-the-vampire-slayer/
The look at shows that serve as Buffy‘s spiritual successors includes the Doctor Who revival, and briefly runs down how the Slayer influenced Russell T. Davies’ approach to it.
10 March 2017 at 14:55 #55769@winston The Wednesday night run of @midnight — an American panel show that pokes fun at the world via what’s turning up online, often with very blue humor — had a ball with this particular story. The host, Chris Hardwick, is a vocal Whovian (he hosted/moderated the 2015 San Diego Comic Con panel with the Who leads) and he joked that he’s now worried that he might be an unknowing, unwitting government agent. Maybe he’ll be activated to go after union leaders or cozy up to Vladimir Putin when somebody just says “Amy Pond” to him!
9 March 2017 at 18:16 #557606 March 2017 at 20:25 #557546 March 2017 at 20:20 #55753Squee! This is a very interesting direction for the season finale to go in — I’d been thinking they’d do something with Daleks and/or Gallifrey. Maybe they’re saving those for the final Christmas special? 😉 But I know I’m excited!
6 March 2017 at 04:22 #55745@thane15 and @ichabod — You’re right, of course, and I’m terribly sorry I didn’t make things clearer. I put “better” in quotation marks for a reason. 😉 Of course he makes the right choices when he had the chance, because he is the Doctor and not a sociopath. That takes a lot of courage and strength on his part because he doesn’t know the potential consequences. It shows he’s willing to stand his ground against temptation and the so-called “path of least resistance”, putting others before himself.
Would that all of us could be so brave. The sad world today really does need more Doctors instead of people who manage to rationalize making the wrong choices….again and again and again!
It sounds like @thane15 you and your mum are good, if not great, Doctors in spirit!
5 March 2017 at 18:54 #55737@winston Thank you for your recommendation. (writes it down) I don’t turn up my nose at YA books even though I’m pushing 39 at this point. Reading the 12 Doctors 12 Stories anthology was fascinating in that respect. (Holly Black’s story for the Twelfth Doctor, “Lights Out”, is one of the best expanded universe stories about Twelve — and even though it was one of the very first, it fits well into his larger character arc in the show.) I think one reason people are really into YA books nowadays is that they tend to be more story-driven than “adult”-oriented fiction. I’ve always found it harder to take interest in a story that doesn’t have a gripping hook, that doesn’t get into the action right away.
5 March 2017 at 18:45 #55736@conchobarre Thank you. I doubt the show can pull it off, or whether they’d want to do something like that after a lot of people were apparently exhausted by the denouement of “The End of Time” 😉 But hopefully they’ll come up with something even better than that, we just don’t know what yet. Fingers are crossed!
5 March 2017 at 18:41 #55735Let us know what you think @ichabod! 😉
I’ve been feeling rather blah of late. My muse hasn’t felt like creating new poetry or anything in quite a while, and last year it was pretty prolific. And perhaps it’s my autism, but trying to force myself to work on creative work everyday — which is what they always recommend as a way to punch through the azbantium wall that is writer’s block — tends to end in tears, at least if it’s at length. I know there are some creative types here; anyone have any advice? 🙂
5 March 2017 at 11:38 #55733@thane15:
So if he’d left children & civilians on G’frey die that would’ve been better?
Well, in the sense that it would have been less grief for the Doctor in the long run, it would have been “better”. Same with Ashildr — if he’d let her perish even though he could keep that from happening, it would have spared him much grief and guilt. And the wider universe was affected in negative ways by these events as well, turning out to be why the Silence came for the Eleventh Doctor, for instance. Also, there probably wouldn’t have been Missy for Twelve to deal with.
Of course, had he let either Gallifrey and its people and/or Ashildr die, he would have failed to be the Doctor, his best self, and that prospect is one that he cannot bear, especially when he is reminded of it (by Clara in TDOTD, by himself in “The Girl Who Died”). Again, I think that’s the central tragedy of it all: He chooses to be a bringer of life, not death, to others. But while this is often for the best for those he saves, sometimes it isn’t, and either way the consequences of his deeds, which he cannot forsee as @ichabod pointed out, turn out to cause him more grief down the line, and rewards that sometimes seem like “small potatoes” compared to the ones he’d reap if he chose not to be the Doctor (i.e., if he took command of the Cyber-army of the dead and conquered the universe).
The Drylanders and soliders were willing to die for him, but he also knew they could not give him what he truly wanted (Clara); those who could give him what he wanted (the TLs) would not. One Time Lord can save the whole planet from cataclysm in a way that seemed impossible, but a hundred will not put their heads together to restore one person with a Paradox Machine, or some such. What does that say about their morals? 😉
@ichabod, I am also curious to see how the Doctor’s story will play out in Series 10. Perhaps finally he will be able to have what he wants too, in the process of giving others what they want. Or at least, be better able to forgive himself when his good intentions don’t play out as they “should”.
3 March 2017 at 21:52 #55725(sniff) Too true, @ichabod. That’s why I wonder if some pattern, something greater than he put the memory of Pompeii in his head at that exact moment. He’d been wondering since his regeneration why he had the face he did, and he’d been able to swallow sorrow and shame over deaths he might have been able to prevent before, and he was already brooding over Clara’s safety. Why was this time different, and ultimately so fateful? Perhaps we will never know…
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