More thoughts on "The Sound of Drums"
Sep. 16th, 2007 01:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kerravonsenWatched it again last night (when it aired on Auntie ABC), and a few more things struck me.
I'd wondered, on re-watching "Project Lazarus", why Mr. Saxon was a backer of the research, but this time I paid a little more attention and noticed that the Master said that he'd miniaturized the technology and put it into his laser-screwdriver(*) -- it was THIS technology (in reverse) that he used to age the Doctor.
Does that mean that the whole Project Lazarus thing was because the Master wanted revenge on the Doctor? Well, stranger things have happened. I wouldn't be surprised if the Master decided it was a more efficient use of his time to "subcontract" the research, and gave Lazarus "hints" about how to do it.
Note also that "Project Lazarus" is when Saxon's people first made contact with Francine Jones. But the Master had had his eye on Tish earlier, since he'd probably gotten her the job there.
Mr. Saxon says "Downing Street rebuilt" -- how long is this after "World War Three" and "The Christmas Invasion"?
Mr. Saxon also calls his cabinet "traitors" because they abandoned their own parties when they saw how the polls were going. That begs the question -- what party was Mr. Saxon? Or did he form his own party? What was his original position in the Ministry of Defence anyway?
I get the impression that the Master murdered his cabiniet just because he could, and because he considered it easier to just kill them rather than placate or mislead them. Mind you, from the number of bodies that the Master has left in his wake in the past (remember the old "tissue compression analyser"?) he seems to think that killing is the best policy (after hypnotism).
Bad, Mad, and Dangerous To Know.
The constructing the SEPs (Somebody Else's Problem field) scene, two things:
* the Doctor actually confirmed that the TARDIS has a "perception filter" to make it not noticed (something I deduced by things which had been said by Nine, but here it was stated clearer). Whether the TARDIS has always had a SEP I'm not certain. One could argue that (a) the TARDIS gradually grew one when it realized the chameleon circuit was never going to be fixed, or (b) during the period when the chameleon circuit was fixed (some point in Six's era, if I recall correctly), it was fully fixed, and the fully-working chameleon circuit included a SEP, and when the Doctor turned off the chameleon circuit (I can't remember whether he turned it off or canibalised it or it broke again) the SEP part of it continued to work.
* I realized I was distracted by the handwaving technobabble: how come the "perception filter" turns on when one puts the string around one's neck, but isn't on when one is holding the key in front of one?
(*) laser screwdriver? I bet it can't drive screws, just melt them.
I'd wondered, on re-watching "Project Lazarus", why Mr. Saxon was a backer of the research, but this time I paid a little more attention and noticed that the Master said that he'd miniaturized the technology and put it into his laser-screwdriver(*) -- it was THIS technology (in reverse) that he used to age the Doctor.
Does that mean that the whole Project Lazarus thing was because the Master wanted revenge on the Doctor? Well, stranger things have happened. I wouldn't be surprised if the Master decided it was a more efficient use of his time to "subcontract" the research, and gave Lazarus "hints" about how to do it.
Note also that "Project Lazarus" is when Saxon's people first made contact with Francine Jones. But the Master had had his eye on Tish earlier, since he'd probably gotten her the job there.
Mr. Saxon says "Downing Street rebuilt" -- how long is this after "World War Three" and "The Christmas Invasion"?
Mr. Saxon also calls his cabinet "traitors" because they abandoned their own parties when they saw how the polls were going. That begs the question -- what party was Mr. Saxon? Or did he form his own party? What was his original position in the Ministry of Defence anyway?
I get the impression that the Master murdered his cabiniet just because he could, and because he considered it easier to just kill them rather than placate or mislead them. Mind you, from the number of bodies that the Master has left in his wake in the past (remember the old "tissue compression analyser"?) he seems to think that killing is the best policy (after hypnotism).
Bad, Mad, and Dangerous To Know.
The constructing the SEPs (Somebody Else's Problem field) scene, two things:
* the Doctor actually confirmed that the TARDIS has a "perception filter" to make it not noticed (something I deduced by things which had been said by Nine, but here it was stated clearer). Whether the TARDIS has always had a SEP I'm not certain. One could argue that (a) the TARDIS gradually grew one when it realized the chameleon circuit was never going to be fixed, or (b) during the period when the chameleon circuit was fixed (some point in Six's era, if I recall correctly), it was fully fixed, and the fully-working chameleon circuit included a SEP, and when the Doctor turned off the chameleon circuit (I can't remember whether he turned it off or canibalised it or it broke again) the SEP part of it continued to work.
* I realized I was distracted by the handwaving technobabble: how come the "perception filter" turns on when one puts the string around one's neck, but isn't on when one is holding the key in front of one?
(*) laser screwdriver? I bet it can't drive screws, just melt them.
