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sensiblecatIn many ways the finale was a wonderful episode, and yet somehow the very things that were brilliant about it added to the frustration. FIrst, the shallow stuff - mentioned by many others, but the Silurian lady and her Jenny are crying out for spin-off status. And there were some moments of laugh out loud humour - SM always was brilliant at that stuff. The lactating Sontaran was absolutely priceless. I also adore Big Blue Guy and I want to see a remake of Casablanca with him as Rick in space. Or even a series along those lines.
Some of the points about religion were a bit cheap but amusing nevertheless - commit to a religious order and you literally sacrifice your head. Yes, I can buy that if I don't think about it too hard.
In a way all finales are party time, when you throw things into the mix that you'd never get away with even in a normaml episode - you just do it for the hell of it, like cool guy Rory with explosions behind him.
And then there was the emotional stuff.
I'm sorry, Amy still isn't delivering for me. Either she can't act or it's the writing, but I didn't believe in her emotional arc for a single moment, even allowing for the fact that they'd be unlikely to play up the trauma of having your child stolen in what still passes for a family show. Rory and River both stepped up to the plate and Matt Smith blew everyone out of the water. I've reached the conclusion that, unlike Tennant, Matt needs first-rate material to really give his all - and here he got it - bam, bam, bam. Finding, then losing, the baby. Reuniting with River. That reminder of the family he lost. RIver's hard but necessary words about what he'd become. All very well played.
In a strange, roundabout way, this whole narrative arc vindicates RTD's decision to keep any sign of the Doctor settling down with Rose and having a family well off-screen. I'm now persuaded that deep down, that was the story RTD wanted to tell, but he knew he couldn't. Not just because of actors leaving, but the more you think about where River's revelation leaves Amy and Rory, the clearer it becomes that a time-travelling existence is competely incompatible with normal human family life. Who could resist the urge to meddle with a timeline for their own offspring's sake? And what healthy family dynamics, as we know them, could survive the shock of meeting your baby daughter several times as a kick-ass adult before you have said baby? How could you ever have complete honesty and full disclosure?
I've only ever read one completely convincing account of Ten settling down and having a family with Rose, and that was the wonderful Chaosverse series, which I adore. It's fascinating that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
earlgreytea68 has now noticed that the Ten that has developed in her AU has ended up similar, in many ways, to the Eleven we see here. I think her stories work because she's shifted the focus to the children and Ten and Rose, though still much involved, are secondary characters. And you can't write about someone having grown-up children without having them age in some way. And in many ways Eleven is just so much older, more resigned to the shit that happens and yet possessing a ruthless, laser-beam clarity when the people he loves are threatened.
To return to my previous point, I do feel that any attempt to imagine the Doctor with a family as we would understand it involves a huge amount of handwaving. Imagine a society where everyone could travel in time, and then think about what parents are capable of doing just to get their kids into a good school, and you begin to see that it could only work if the children were removed at birth from their natural parents and raised institutionally. You'd have to breed an absolute indifference and objectivity from Day One. What you get, in fact, is Time Lord society, and therein lies the Doctor's tragedy and allure as a hero. Every now and then, for no apparent reason, you'd get a throwback - a fiercely individualistic and idealistic Time Lord who would be unable to accept the status quo - and those are the Time L ords we hear about. The Doctor isn't the only one, but he's probably the one closest to any attempt to live morally and engage with the suffering he sees around him.
I always found it quite fascinating that this very English show came up with a concept of an alien society that so perfectly reflects the character of the emotionally repressed, boarding-school educated English upper class in the dying days of colonial power. I'm sure they didn't do it consciously, any more than you can claim Tolkien chose to set Mordor in the East and write about the Elves withdrawing into the West in a book that came out right in the middle of the Cold War. It's a kind of instinctive allegory - people are drawn to certain concepts, certain characters, without analysing the reasons, and it's only in retrospect that we can see where the connections came from.
I've barely started on RIver. The speculation on her could easily fill many more posts - I'll resist, apart from one or two things. I keep thinking about that little girl at the end of DOTM, regenerating six months later. Now that, plus the three between TIA and DOTM, would make her regeneration concurrent with Melody's arrival. It leaves me wondering if this new breed of Time Lords (Time Head Babies? now there's a name for a band!) have developed to reincarnate, rather than regenerate. I don't think we can assume that the little girl in the space suit was RIver as we know her, but if we assume the little girl regenerating was the same person, it opens up the possibility that when such a being regenerates, they could take over the body of a newborn. In that sense, what we're seeing is perhaps a Time Head Baby who regenerates into River/Melody. Which would give her the advantage of missing out on one of the most unpleasant childhoods imaginable.
But enough of that. Meanwhile, I want a Gallifradle for my grandchildren, if I ever have any.
Some of the points about religion were a bit cheap but amusing nevertheless - commit to a religious order and you literally sacrifice your head. Yes, I can buy that if I don't think about it too hard.
In a way all finales are party time, when you throw things into the mix that you'd never get away with even in a normaml episode - you just do it for the hell of it, like cool guy Rory with explosions behind him.
And then there was the emotional stuff.
I'm sorry, Amy still isn't delivering for me. Either she can't act or it's the writing, but I didn't believe in her emotional arc for a single moment, even allowing for the fact that they'd be unlikely to play up the trauma of having your child stolen in what still passes for a family show. Rory and River both stepped up to the plate and Matt Smith blew everyone out of the water. I've reached the conclusion that, unlike Tennant, Matt needs first-rate material to really give his all - and here he got it - bam, bam, bam. Finding, then losing, the baby. Reuniting with River. That reminder of the family he lost. RIver's hard but necessary words about what he'd become. All very well played.
In a strange, roundabout way, this whole narrative arc vindicates RTD's decision to keep any sign of the Doctor settling down with Rose and having a family well off-screen. I'm now persuaded that deep down, that was the story RTD wanted to tell, but he knew he couldn't. Not just because of actors leaving, but the more you think about where River's revelation leaves Amy and Rory, the clearer it becomes that a time-travelling existence is competely incompatible with normal human family life. Who could resist the urge to meddle with a timeline for their own offspring's sake? And what healthy family dynamics, as we know them, could survive the shock of meeting your baby daughter several times as a kick-ass adult before you have said baby? How could you ever have complete honesty and full disclosure?
I've only ever read one completely convincing account of Ten settling down and having a family with Rose, and that was the wonderful Chaosverse series, which I adore. It's fascinating that
earlgreytea68 has now noticed that the Ten that has developed in her AU has ended up similar, in many ways, to the Eleven we see here. I think her stories work because she's shifted the focus to the children and Ten and Rose, though still much involved, are secondary characters. And you can't write about someone having grown-up children without having them age in some way. And in many ways Eleven is just so much older, more resigned to the shit that happens and yet possessing a ruthless, laser-beam clarity when the people he loves are threatened.To return to my previous point, I do feel that any attempt to imagine the Doctor with a family as we would understand it involves a huge amount of handwaving. Imagine a society where everyone could travel in time, and then think about what parents are capable of doing just to get their kids into a good school, and you begin to see that it could only work if the children were removed at birth from their natural parents and raised institutionally. You'd have to breed an absolute indifference and objectivity from Day One. What you get, in fact, is Time Lord society, and therein lies the Doctor's tragedy and allure as a hero. Every now and then, for no apparent reason, you'd get a throwback - a fiercely individualistic and idealistic Time Lord who would be unable to accept the status quo - and those are the Time L ords we hear about. The Doctor isn't the only one, but he's probably the one closest to any attempt to live morally and engage with the suffering he sees around him.
I always found it quite fascinating that this very English show came up with a concept of an alien society that so perfectly reflects the character of the emotionally repressed, boarding-school educated English upper class in the dying days of colonial power. I'm sure they didn't do it consciously, any more than you can claim Tolkien chose to set Mordor in the East and write about the Elves withdrawing into the West in a book that came out right in the middle of the Cold War. It's a kind of instinctive allegory - people are drawn to certain concepts, certain characters, without analysing the reasons, and it's only in retrospect that we can see where the connections came from.
I've barely started on RIver. The speculation on her could easily fill many more posts - I'll resist, apart from one or two things. I keep thinking about that little girl at the end of DOTM, regenerating six months later. Now that, plus the three between TIA and DOTM, would make her regeneration concurrent with Melody's arrival. It leaves me wondering if this new breed of Time Lords (Time Head Babies? now there's a name for a band!) have developed to reincarnate, rather than regenerate. I don't think we can assume that the little girl in the space suit was RIver as we know her, but if we assume the little girl regenerating was the same person, it opens up the possibility that when such a being regenerates, they could take over the body of a newborn. In that sense, what we're seeing is perhaps a Time Head Baby who regenerates into River/Melody. Which would give her the advantage of missing out on one of the most unpleasant childhoods imaginable.
But enough of that. Meanwhile, I want a Gallifradle for my grandchildren, if I ever have any.
