But who ARE you?

[kerravonsen]

Yes, this is my New Who squee. Saw "Rose" last night. I rang up aizain afterwards to squee with him, but he hadn't seen it because he didn't know it was on (oops!). Well at least he'll be watching next week. But, anyway, we started talking about Doctor Who in general, and it was amazing how I kept on mentally going yep, tick, tick, tick during the discussion of what "Doctor Who" is.


Here were some of the points which were made:

• The Doctor is Merlin, is Gandalf -- that powerful mysterious Unknown, who is Good, not Evil.
  
• When you're with Gandalf, you know that he's leading you -- not quite into certain death, but close -- to save the world, and he'll do his best to make sure that you survive. With the Doctor, it is the same; but he'll also lead you into beautiful alien pleasant places, though you don't always know which will be which, and of course they only tend to make stories about the dangerous ones.
  
• The Doctor is very dangerous. But "dangerous" does not mean "evil", even though people tend to unthinkingly assume that -- until they ask the question "Dangerous to whom?"
  
• But even though The Doctor might be dangerous, he's not the sort to just go and kill the "bad guys" (though some incarnations may be more peacable than others).
  
• There are three "levels" of Hero
  
  
  
  1. The immature Hero: a decent sort, who rushes in and does what he thinks is right, succeeding more often than not by luck rather than judgement.
     Examples: early Buffy, Flash Gordon
     
  2. The mature Hero: more wise and knowing, this one plans and is aware of the consequences of his actions, learns from his mistakes.
     Examples: Blake, later Buffy
     
  3. The transcendent Hero: not only is he wise, but he has special knowledge in the realm of the Other, he is aware of the Big Picture, and thus may do things which make no sense to his less knowledgable peers.
     Examples: Hanz Zarkof, The Doctor
     
  
  
• The Doctor is alien -- even the most approachable incarnations behave oddly, eccentricly, because he isn't human.
  

In "Rose", the Doctor was all of the above -- the mysterious Other, with the Big Picture, eccentric, dangerous (ah, I loved that bit with the conspiracy theorist -- the phrase "Gandalf, storm crow" springs to mind), trying to negotiate with the Nestine Consciousness (and falling foul of the "dangerous to whom?" question), telling Rose that, yes, if she comes with him, things are likely to be just as dangerous as they were with him this time.

One of the intriguing things was that I was expecting Rose's mother and boyfriend to be killed, and that she would go with the Doctor because she had nothing left, but what actually happened was much more positive. And, heh, her boyfriend freaking out, that was so ironic!

Hats off to the BBC, for being able to convey the "Whoness" of the Doctor, all in one break-neck-paced hour. We got the required things: "Police Call box, is a disguise", "It's bigger on the inside than the outside", "Time And Relative Dimensions In Space", the fact that he's a time-travelling alien, with chaos in his wake, saves people a lot (and lots of people die anyway). Ahhhhh.

Loved that bit where Rose goes into the TARDIS, and runs straight back out again, looks at the rampaging alien thing bashing its way through the steel door, and goes back in again. Nice to see her freaking out and then overcoming it, rather than just having staid acceptance; that's a nice change from the usual Companion.

I'm amazed they managed to fit all that in to one hour, but then as I said, it was fast-paced. Not your usual leisurely Who, but I'm not complaining.


Whee!

I need a Doctor Who icon.

Comments

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

You know, I think the Doctor, to some degree, and at different times, is actually all three kinds of hero. One of the things I like about him, and what makes him an interesting character rather than boring, all-powerful superhero, is that he isn't all-knowing, and he does make mistakes (even if he usually manages to get everything to come out right in the end). A lot of the time, he's jumping into situations blind, improvising, trusting to his luck, pretending to be more on top of things than he really is... and making it work for him. So there is a certain amount of the headlong thoughtless rushing-in of Hero #1 and the learning-from-mistakes of Hero #2, as well as the transcendental wisdom of Hero #3. The fun thing about the Doctor is that you can never be entirely sure, from moment to moment, which of the three you're getting. Sometimes what looks like #1 behavior turns out to be very much a case of #3, but I think nearly as often you get #1 masquerading as #3 instead. Which keeps both bad guys and companions on their toes. :)

[kerravonsen]

Hmmm. You may be right, there.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

You know, I think the Doctor, to some degree, and at different times, is actually all three kinds of hero.

Hey, I was just about to say that. :)

As for the Doctor as Merlin, in one story in the lastv Sylvester McCoy season it was made explicit that he actually is Merlin.

[kerravonsen]

As for the Doctor as Merlin, in one story in the lastv Sylvester McCoy season it was made explicit that he actually is Merlin.

Oh yes, I'd forgotten that. Duh!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I saw Rose this week too, plus the next one (I have DVDs from the lovely altariel1 in the UK) and I so agree with you. I like the new Doctor very much, and though I'd already heard that Billie Piper was excellent as Rose, I was very impressed with her too. I was worried when I first saw a pop singer was playing her, but she's very good and believable as a brave and intelligent (if not that well-educated) young woman who wants more out of life than she was given. I adore the way she beams and runs eagerly into the TARDIS when the Doctor says, "Did I mention it travels in time too?" I always wanted to the one who got to do that.

I'm sorry we only get one series with this Doctor. You'll see a slightly darker and more dangerous side to him in the next ep. :-)

[kerravonsen]

she's very good and believable as a brave and intelligent (if not that well-educated) young woman who wants more out of life than she was given

One of the cool things was where she muttered that she didn't have a job and she didn't have A-levels, but she still knew how to do gymnastics -- and then proceeds to do the very heroic swing-from-the-chain bit -- and that the lines before she actually did it, made it something plausible for her to be able to do, rather than a cliche, and what's more it was inverting the cliche, because she was a woman, not a man, and the one who was cowering and freaking out was her boyfriend. Definitely up-to-date, is this Doctor Who. Without having to go overboard into a Leela kind of companion, or even an Ace.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

YES!!! The whole thing was very cool. I don't think there was anything I didn't like. :-D

"Rose"

[hawkeye7.livejournal.com]

The immature Hero: a decent sort, who rushes in and does what he thinks is right, succeeding more often than not by luck rather than judgement.
I always think of Indiana Jones as the archetype of this. He never prepares, he just charges in and gets over his head and relies on being able to fight his way out.

he's not the sort to just go and kill the "bad guys"
What I always most loved about Doctor Who was that he doesn't just go charging in with an army. He comes to help. He isn't a judge. He's knowledgeable but not all-wise and all-knowing.

This new Doctor, I like a lot. He reminded me most of my favourite incarnation, the Tom Baker version. He had just this bit of alien off-beatness. I hope they can keep this up.

Everybody reacts differently to he Tardis. May favourite was the Brigadier, who just said: "Some sort of optical illusion, wot?"

Best line: "If you're an alien, how come you sound like you're from The North?"

Best bit was the fight with the wheelie bin. They're mean they are.

Re: "Rose"

[kerravonsen]

Best line: "If you're an alien, how come you sound like you're from The North?"
Doctor: "Lots of planets have a north."

(grin)

He reminded me most of my favourite incarnation, the Tom Baker version.

He makes me think of bits of the others as well.

Re: "Rose"

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Everybody reacts differently to he Tardis. May favourite was the Brigadier, who just said: "Some sort of optical illusion, wot?"

My favorite was Sgt. Benton.

The Doctor: "Well, aren't you going to say 'it's bigger on the inside than the outside?' Everyone else does."

Benton: "Well, it's obvious, innit?" And he sort of swallows, then pulls himself together and gets on with things.

I love Benton. He is, IMHO, the great unsung hero of Doctor Who.

Um, not that this has anything whatsoever to do with "Rose..." :)

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

The Doctor is Merlin, is Gandalf -- that powerful mysterious Unknown, who is Good, not Evil.

Anyone up for writing a "Lord of the Rings" / "Dr Who" cross-over? Sauron wouldn't stand a chance. :)

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Antipodean readers - and I know that there are likely to be quite a few of those, including kerravonsen herself of course - may be interested in this news item that I found on Outpost Gallifrey. Apparently there's to be a "Doctor Who" tour of Australia and NZ in July and August, featuring Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Katy Manning.

http://gallifreyone.com/news.php#newsitemEEEyVZZZulnDyhBIIn

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thanks for that! :-D