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Doctor Who essay: What if God was one of us?
The Doctor: But you've seen it out there. It's beautiful.
Donna: And it's terrible. That place was flooding and burning and they were dying and you were stood there like... I don't know... a stranger. And then you made it snow - I mean, you scare me to death!
‘The Runaway Bride’
So... Doctor Who. Mostly the last three episodes of S3 (and spoilers for everything up to the finale of that season), although I do try to tie in earlier eps in as much as I remember them. And this is pretty much pure meta - so although there is the occasional squeeing, I’m not going to complain about the wonky plotting - I’m interested in what’s underneath...
Anyway, I’m going to tackle two main subjects. Will take them one at a time, although they’re kinda intertwined. And yes, there’s a helluva lot of stuff I’m skipping. This is just me delving into the things that interest me - I hope you’ll like it. (I should probably mention that I have not read a single piece of meta on the last three episodes, so if I’m just repeating what fandom has been saying for weeks, then I’m sorry...) The Buffy fans among you will know what to expect - anyone else who reads this... well I can ramble for Britain (the whole thing is nearly 7000 words! If I state opinions as facts, it's because it saves time). And I attempt to dissect the Doctor/Master ‘relationship’ down to subatomic level. Enjoy. :)
ETA: I didn't realise that 'Time Lord' is two words back when I first wrote it, and I'm too lazy to go back and fix it all. Sorry. Also thought I'd link to my meta on The Sound of Drums, even though it overlaps a lot.
The Doctor: Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Shakespeare: I might use that.
The Doctor: You can’t, it’s someone else’s.
‘The Shakespeare Code’
The Master: Human race. Greatest monster of them all.
‘Last of the Timelords’
I liked Utopia the first time - except for the cannibals. They struck me as rather pointless... grr argh ‘monsters’ that gave people something to run from. And then a few days ago my brain did a funny slidey thing and suddenly it all made sense. They - ‘The Future Kind’! - were very important - they brought into focus a main theme:
The Doctor: He’s cannibalised the TARDIS.
The Master: All that human invention, that had sustained them across the aeons, it all turned inward, it cannibalised themselves.
The human monster... people refusing to accept their fate... destroying their very self to survive... these themes are woven into the entire season.
ETA: In the very first episode, we have this:
MR STOKER: Who are you?
FLORENCE: Oh, I'm a survivor, Mr Stoker. At any cost.
'Smith and Jones'
We even had The Daleks - the most unchanging of creatures - attempting to evolve, to change, to do anything to survive. And the result was Dalek Sek killed by one of his own, out of disgust at what he had become (just like Milligan shoots the Toclafane). Interestingly, in many ways the Toclafane have turned themselves into Daleks... locked up and hidden away in their shells, unable to touch or feel or interact. And the image of them all, poised on the edge of space, ready to launch into full-out war with the universe, reminded me of the Daleks in ‘Parting of the Ways’ in a very disturbing way.
Now the theme of avoiding death was rather hammered home in ‘The Lazarus Experiment’, with man attempting to recapture youth long gone and cheat death. Of course this is not a new theme...
Cassandra: Oh, now, don't stare. I know, I know it's shocking, isn't it? I've had my chin completely taken away and look at the difference! Look how thin I am.
‘The End of the World’
Humans will do unspeakable things to stay alive. And there is something truly terrible about humanity at the end of the universe, looking into nothingness...
The Master: The last of humanity - screaming against the dark. There was no solution. No diamonds. Just the dark and the cold.
‘Last of the Timelords’
But then, suddenly, I knew what they had become. The Master used the made-up word ‘Toclafane’. But what they were - what they had become - was (Firefly) Reavers:
Jayne: These Reavers, the last years... they show up like the boogeyman from stories. Eating people alive? Where does that get fun?
Kaylee: Shepherd Book said they was men who just... reached the edge of space, saw a vasty nothingness... and went bibbledy over it.
Jayne: Oh, hell, I've been to the edge. Just looked like more space.
Kaylee: I don't know. It can get awful lonely in the black.
‘Serenity, the movie’
I never saw it as a satisfactory explanation (and of course it wasn’t), but DW took the concept and changed it: Humanity reached the end of time and space. And there was nothing. Nothing at all, except death... with cannibals snapping at their heels. Literally and metaphorically.
Of course this quote also then made me think that maybe RTD did it on purpose...
The Doctor: There is no such thing as the Toclafane - that’s just a made-up name like the boogeyman!
Milligan: What about us? We’re the same species. Why do you kill so many of us?
Toclafane: ‘cause it’s fun!
Side note: ‘Blink’ is very much a standalone, but suddenly it hit me that it ties in very wonderfully - The Weeping Angels send people back in time! Which is just... neat!
We know that The Doctor loves humanity... and yet he has no illusions about them:
The Doctor: Don’t let me hurt anyone. [...] But you know what humans are like.
‘Human Nature’ (from memory)
He knows indeed:
The Doctor: I gave them the wrong warning. I should've told them to run - as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming; the human race.
Harriet Jones: Those are the people I represent. I did it on their behalf.
The Doctor: Then I should've stopped you.
Harriet Jones: What does that make you, Doctor? Another alien threat?
‘The Christmas Invasion’
And this is the thing...
Harriet Jones: You said yourself, Doctor. They'd go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth. I'm sorry, Doctor, but you're not here all the time. You come and go. It happened today - Mr. Llewellyn and the Major. They were murdered. They died right in front of me while you were sleeping. In which case - we have to defend ourselves.
The Doctor: Britain's Golden Age.
Harriet Jones: It comes with a price.
‘The Christmas Invasion’
Humans can do many things, but they are still limited. They are caught up in this great world and although they can manipulate it to some extent, they are forever fighting against nature. So they lash out, they destroy, they change everything they can, including themselves... twist and bend and cling to life in any shape - any shape at all.
Refusing to accept their fate can be both their best and their worst trait...
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Dylan Thomas (full poem here)
How much do I love the show for putting in that quotation? But more than that, there is ‘Gridlock’ (I *knew* it was a great episode!)... we have The Doctor trying to run away from reality, trying to pretend that things are OK. And in contrast we have the people of New Earth, stolidly accepting fate. And even as they reach ‘the promised land’ they still keep that mindset... The singing city at night time is one of my favourite things ever. I struck me as odd, so bizarrely religious, the first time. But oh, it makes sense:
Abide with me,
Fast falls the eventide.
The darkness deepens;
Lord, with me abide.
When other helpers fail
And comforts flee,
Help of the helpless,
Oh, abide with me.
(Full hymn here.)
It is the flip side to ‘Rage against the light’... In essence this theme can be summed up in this quote:
"Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference."
Reinhold Niebuhr
But - it is not that simple. Because into this equation comes The Timelords... masters of creation, brilliant and eternal. Capable of bending time and space to their whim, to change that which should never be changed... but do they have wisdom?
Baines: He never raised his voice. That was the worst thing - the fury of the Timelord. And then we discovered why - why this Doctor who had fought with Gods and demons, why he’d run away from us and hidden. He was being kind.
‘Family of Blood’
The Doctor: But you’re changing history. Not just Earth - the entire universe!
The Master: I am a Timelord. I have that right.
The Doctor: But even so. Why come all this way just to destroy?
‘Last of the Timelords’
What do I love most about that last quote above? The fact that The Doctor does not argue The Master’s right to act as he does: He agrees (however tacitly) that it is their right to shape the universe - time and space itself. That is what they are...
The word/title ‘timelord’ gets thrown around a lot, but The Master shows us what it really means - takes it to its extreme.
I am going to indulge in some quoting from
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scarlettgirl’s brilliant meta post on Human Nature/Family of Blood:Now, to the meat, the gristle in the teeth, the I TOLD YOU SO moment of the show - the Doctor's treatment of The Family. I've said over and over again that this Doctor is much darker, almost unhinged and probably slightly sociopathic than Nine ever could hope to be. We are starting to see the overt manifestation of "no second chances" and my god, is it delicious. I get the impression he's trembling on the knifepoint of completely losing control and the cracks in his facade are widening. It's starting to pile up - Gallifrey, the loss of his people, his companions, his friends and if he doesn't let it out and deal then the meltdown will be of nuclear proportions. There was a line in the BBC7 audio "Phobos" where he kills an empathatic species with an overload of his memories and thoughts. What finally kills isn't what he's done, or what he's afraid of, it's what he's capable of doing. I think a full-out Time Lord meltdown would bring down galaxies and that's always lurking just below the surface with this Doctor. His choice of *justice* for The Family went beyond punishment. It was vindicative and cruel. He knows the curse of immortality and the pain of being separated from your people yet he cruelly condemns The Family to that very fate. It crossed a line and I don't think he particularly cares.
To pick out the two central lines:
What finally kills isn't what he's done, or what he's afraid of, it's what he's capable of doing.
I think a full-out Time Lord meltdown would bring down galaxies and that's always lurking just below the surface with this Doctor.
Now The Doctor is the hero of the show and therefore the writers can only take him so far into the dark... which is of course where The Master comes in.
I know that Derek Jacobi could probably have brought more gravitas to The Master... but that would have destroyed a large part of the point. The Master is The Doctor’s dark side, and their physical and behavioural similarities highlights this. You could of course say ‘But what about Old!Doctor?’ I think it has a lot to do with the fact that The Master was Prof. Yana when they first met. And I think he is deeply embarrassed about The Doctor having seen him so old and sweet and vulnerable - humbly asking for The Doctor’s help. So he inflicts the same fate on him. Tries to alleviate the pain of his own humiliation by reversing their positions:
Master: Still - if The Doctor can be young and strong... then so can I!
‘Utopia’
Anyway, as I said, their alikeness is wonderful. This exchange for example:
Mrs Saxon: But you promised. You said Arcangel was 100 percent!
Saxon: Mmm.... 99? 98?
I could almost *hear* The Doctor speaking those same words. Which reminds me that I can’t imagine Jacobi (wonderful though he is) infusing his portrayal with so many layers... Simm’s Master is like mercury, changing and shifting all the time, uniting a million different facets into one glorious, unpredictable whole - there has not been a villain who has delighted me so deeply since Angelus (incidentally I think that The Master is far more nuanced and has far greater depth). And just as Angel and Angelus are two sides of the same coin, so are The Master and The Doctor: They have the same glee, the same brilliance, but directed in opposite directions - and yet they understand each other. They share... a certain outlook:
DOCTOR: Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey--
ROSE: Yeah, he's not a kid.
DOCTOR: It's because I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet, alright??
‘Rose’
Master: He’s not that old. He’s an alien with a much greater life span than you - stunted little apes!
It is not that The Doctor despises humans the way The Master does, but more that he automatically sees himself as above them. Because Timelords are... (See my previous post). So we see that it is just their goals, their motivations, that are at opposites. The Doctor tries to save, The Master to rule/destroy (which of course is illustrated beautifully in their names - the names that they chose themselves!).
The important point: What The Master does is what The Doctor could do. He has the power to rule all of the world. All he has to do is reach out and grasp it. He doesn’t... but he could. He is a Timelord and he has that right. And he knows it. We see it every time he steps in to save the day, every time he takes charge:
Doctor: If I don't like it... then it will stop.
Mr Finch: Fascinating. Your people were peaceful to the point of indolence. You seem to be something new. Would you declare war on us, Doctor?
Doctor: I'm so old, now. I used to have so much mercy... You get one warning. That was it.
‘School Reunion’
To quote
toysdream:The impression I get now is that he's trying more than anything else to preserve, to conserve the universe's dwindling supply of wonders. He's like a naturalist who has to choose which endangered species to save and which to sacrifice, because the Time Lords are no longer there to take care of it.
Which puts him in the position to pass judgement on creation... to choose who should live and who should die. Is it any wonder that he feels like a lonely God?
The Master: “What did it feel like though? Two mighty civilisations, burning. Tell me. How did that feel?”
The Doctor: “Stop it!”
The Master: “You must have been like God.”
The Doctor: “I’ve been alone ever since.”
And we see The Master reaching for that... actively seeking it, whereas The Doctor flees. (Although - again - we see that The Doctor does not deny The Master’s insinuation.)
The degree to which The Master accomplishes his goal of God-hood is beautifully illustrated in these scenes:
The Master: And I looked down upon my new dominion, as Master of all. And I saw that it was - good!
"But he never comes to Earth. He never walks upon the ground. [...] He walks among us. Our Lord and Master."
Because what The Master is actually living, is this:
The First Evil: It’s not about right. It’s not about wrong. It’s about power!
‘Lessons’ (BtVS 7.01)
I knew I loved the moment in ‘Sound of Drums’ when The Master offered his wife a jelly baby, but then thanks to the ‘Quote Who’ meme, this popped up on my flist:
"One grows tired of jelly babies, Castellan. One grows tired of almost everything, Castellan, except power."
The Doctor (Tom Baker) in "The Invasion of Time"
Toclafane: We come back in time. All to build a brand new empire, lasting 100 trillion years.
Master: With me as their master. Timelord and humans combined. Haven’t you always dreamt of that, Doctor?
Which reminds me of this:
Illyria: To never die, and conquer all, that is winning.
‘Time Bomb’ (AtS 5.19)
To quote ‘Dune’ again:
Paul: “The power to destroy a thing is the absolute control over it.”
And The Master revels in that power...
Now just for a moment I’m going to jump slightly sideways and mention a throwaway line that suddenly hit me over the head. When The Master does his broadcast, to show Martha that resistance is futile, he says to The Doctor: ”Say hello, Gandalf.”
I’d not thought of it much, just figured that it was nice to show how much The Master knew of human culture (he has after all often been to Earth). And then - whoa! Gandalf! To quote a certain geek:
Andrew: “You’re like Gandalf the White, resurrected from the pit of the Balrog, more beautiful than ever. Oh, he’s alive Frodo! He’s alive!”
‘Damage’ (AtS 5.11)
(And how sad is it that I remember that by heart? *g*) But - if The Doctor is Gandalf, then The Master is Saruman... Remember they used to be friends, but Saruman was overcome with a hunger for power... the parallels are just piling up! They're both the same kind, gifted with powers far above any human - oh and Saruman keeps Gandalf imprisoned, Saruman has plans of world domination, and it’s Saruman’s most loyal servant who kills him (although I think that in The Master’s case there’s a twist...) *takes deep breath* OK, will stop now. If you know LotR, you’ll see the picture clearly. It just makes me so very excited, because it’s doing what Buffy did. And doing it well!
Speaking of names, the ‘human’ names our Timelords choose are v. interesting. The Doctor goes by ‘John Smith’ - so ordinary as to be almost ridiculous. To quote Wikipedia:
’Smith’ is the most common family name in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, representing more than 1 out of every 100 persons in each of these countries. It is particularly prevalent among those of English descent, the name being English itself, but has often been taken by non-English natives or immigrants to the above countries in order to blend into the majority culture more easily.
But The Master calls himself ‘Harold Saxon’:
Harold is an Old English name, meaning ‘army leader’... and of course we also have Royal connections with Prince Harry and various Scandinavian kings bearing that name.
Saxon ties back to English history - and invasions. (More info here.)
But leaving that behind, I want to focus on all the fire imagery for a moment (I can’t resist fire-imagery, it’s a thing. I really wish I remembered ‘42’ better, because that was all about the burning and heat.):
The Master: You should have seen it [Utopia] Doctor - furnaces, burning.
The Master: Two mighty civilisations, burning. Tell me. How did that feel?
The Master: And down below the fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ship set to burn across the universe. My children are you ready?
Toglofane: We will fly and blaze and slice. [?]
The image of The Master as a child, looking into the vortex... and flames leaping up... echoed in (and foreshadowing) the scene with his funeral pyre (same music - same gorgeous, gorgeous Timelord theme, so sad and haunting and majestic... *meeps*).
The fire of war.
Fire - destructive and wild... very much like The Master himself. Unleashing armageddon because he can. Because he has to:
The Master: The drumming - the neverending drumbeat. Ever since I was a child and I looked into the vortex. That’s when it chose me - the call to war.
I love how he describes it: ‘it chose me’. It implies an acceptance of his insanity, that he’s not using it as a get-out clause, but as a calling. Something to strive for, something to aspire to - even as it makes him lonely. To continue the quote from above:
Master (almost despairing): Can’t you hear it? Listen - it’s there now - right now. Tell me you can hear it Doctor. Tell me.
Doctor: It’s only you.
A beat.
Master (decidedly): Good.
The thing is, I think The Doctor understands far better than he might let on...
The Doctor: Children of Gallifrey were taken from their families at the age of eight. To enter the Academy. Some say that’s where it all began - when he was a child. That’s when The Master saw eternity. As a novice he was taken for initiation; stood in front of the Untempered Schism. It’s like a - gap in the fabric of reality, through which could be seen the whole of the vortex. You stand there, 8 years old, staring at the raw power of time and space - just a child... Some would be inspired, some would run away - and some would go mad.
‘Sound of Drums’
ROSE: I can see everything. All that is... all that was... all that ever could be.
DOCTOR: That's what I see. All the time. And doesn't it drive you mad?
‘Parting of the Ways’
And talking about loneliness, then The Doctor has always to some extent been alone...
DOCTOR: When did you start calling me 'Doctor'?
REINETTE: Such a lonely little boy. Lonely then and lonelier now.
She opens her eyes.
REINETTE: How can you bear it?
DOCTOR (stepping away from her): How did you do that?
REINETTE: A door, once opened, can be stepped through in either direction...
The Doctor stares at her, vulnerable.
REINETTE (softly): Oh, Doctor. (steps towards him) My lonely Doctor. Dance with me.
DOCTOR (warningly): I can't.
REINETTE (adamant): Dance with me.
DOCTOR: This is the night you dance with the King.
REINETTE: Then first, I shall make him jealous.
DOCTOR: I can't.
REINETTE (sadly): Doctor... Doctor who?
She looks at him for a few moments.
REINETTE: It's more than just a secret, isn't it?
DOCTOR: What did you see?
‘The Girl in the Fireplace’
The Doctor and The Master were always loners - renegade Timelords, unwilling to adhere to the ‘not meddling’ rule. But I think The Master is a further step removed thanks to his madness... there is the moment I quoted above when he asks The Doctor if he can’t hear the drumming - desperately trying to bridge the gap. But it only lasts a moment. Because what makes him lonely also makes him special. One of a kind. He has a calling...
Doctor: I’ve been alone ever since... But not anymore! Don’t you see? All we’ve got is each other!
Master: Are you asking me out on a date?
Doctor: You can stop this - right now. We can leave this planet. We can fight across the constellations, if that’s what you want - but not on earth.
Master (looking tempted and sad): Too late.
Doctor: Why do you say that?
Master: The drumming. Can’t you hear it? I thought it would stop, but it never does. Never, ever stops. Inside my head. The drumming, Doctor, the constant drumming.
Doctor: I could help - please, let me help!
Master: It’s everywhere. Listen - listen - listen. Here come the drums. Here... come... the... drums...
Doctor: What have you done? Tell me, how have you done this? What are those creatures - tell me!
We see the connection there; see - I think - how The Master wishes that he were someone else, how part of him wants to take The Doctor’s offer... but he knows he can’t.
I remember
shapinglight asking post-’Sound of Drums’ where Prof. Yana and The Master overlapped, and - apart from the drumming - this is it:The Master: I’m doing it for them!
They’re both saving the last of humanity! The professor obviously worked on this his entire life, even to the point of sacrificing himself - staying behind so the others could go to Utopia. The Master does what he could not as Yana - save the future of humankind. And he must sacrifice the present to do so, which he is obviously sad to do:
The Master: Have you seen these things? This planet’s amazing! Television in their stomach - now that’s evolution!
But that is the price he has to pay. We can see that on some level he regrets that it has to be that way (“Too late...”) but he’s committed to his cause. He calls the Toglofane ‘his friends’, and talks of them as his offspring:
Master: Down you go kids!
Master: My children - are you ready?
Of course he also does it so he can use them to take over the universe... ;)
But - although he throws The Doctor’s love of humanity in his face:
Toclafane: Tomorrow to war. Tomorrow we rise. Never to fall.
The Master: You see? I’m doing it for them! You should be grateful! After all you love them - so very, very much.
I think he really *does* care, in his own twisted way. Even if he won’t really admit it. And just like The Doctor he makes a choice between who should live at the expense of someone else. He chooses the people at the end of the universe, The Doctor chooses the people of now. We see in the end that The Doctor sends the Toclafane back, without intending to help them in any way - leaving them to their fate.
And there is a moment - just after The Doctor says “I forgive you” - when The Master suddenly looks panicked: “My children!”
The Toclafane then all rush to save the Paradox machine... but on The Master’s part I think it’s more than just worry about his power slipping away. He looks genuinely upset - because he knows he’ll lose those he cares about. And it hurts. (He was their *savior*. The Paradox machine was his *masterpiece*. He invested an insane amount of effort and work in bringing them back in time. And I'm sure there were other ways of taking over the universe.)
But... to go back to the parallel I mentioned before - because The Master is there to show us something about The Doctor (as well as being a brilliant foil of course!) - it is as though we have Angel and Angelus as literally two different people. Their basic nature is similar, and although they hate each other, they are also bound together.
To quote
fenchurche:Even in the old series, I always loved the dynamic between the Doctor and the Master... the idea of having an Enemy (with a capital E) who the good guy always fights but can never quite bring himself/herself to kill (and vice versa), no matter how much they might think they want to. Always dancing around each other, with a sort of deep-seated attraction going between them, even if it's incredibly buried subtext. In fact, now that I think about it, it might be the Doctor/Master dynamic I was exposed to as a child that led me to love Buffy/Spike as much as I did when he first came on the scene in Season Two of BtVS.
Which brings me to the fact that Doctor/Master has become my newest OTP, right alongside Spike/Buffy and Spike/Angel. It’s in the same league, and for the same reasons: It’s not just about love. This might sound ridiculous as concerns S/B in particular (and yes I’ll always stick to my view that S/B is the most beautiful love story I know). My point is this: Take away the love and you still have a ship. You have the attraction, a connection...
Kyerumption: When two warriors meet on the field of battle and recognize their mutual fate.
Of course there’s love also, but love is just one aspect of their relationship, and not even the most important one. It’s is not the driving force, and that is why it adds to the whole thing in such a wonderful way.
But to focus on the differences for a moment. We see the consequences of their save/destroy mindsets most clearly in those who love them:
Rose: But it was... it was a better life. And I - I don't mean all the travelling and... seeing aliens and spaceships and things - that don't matter. The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life. [to Mickey] You know, he showed you too. That you don't just give up. You don't just let things happen. You make a stand. You say no. You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away, and I just can't--
‘Parting of the Ways’
The Master: I took Lucy to Utopia - a Timelord and his human companion. I took you to see the stars - isn’t that right sweetheart?
Lucy: Trillions of years into the future, to the end of the universe.
The Master: Tell him what you saw.
Lucy: Dying - dying - everything dying. The whole of creation was falling apart. And I thought: There’s no point. No point to anything. Not ever.
‘Last of the Timelords’
We see this again of course with Martha - how Martha’s faith in The Doctor inspired a whole world...
To go off on a tangent, I’m thinking that it might have been deliberate to name Mrs Saxon ‘Lucy’. Because we of course have a very famous Lucy in literature - C.S. Lewis’ Lucy, who is the first to find Narnia - a child in a fairy tale, inspired by what she finds... but The Master destroys this Lucy’s innocence. A lovely, dark parallel.
But now I have to talk of the conclusion to their story (for now - it is never over!). See I thought that The Doctor would have to kill The Master - echoing ‘Becoming’ and ‘Home’... having to destroy him to save the world. But no... it didn’t go like that, and I am so very, very grateful. I love it when stories take me by surprise. Anyway, first there’s this:
Doctor: You know what I’m going to say: I forgive you.
I cannot explain how much I love that line. Because in a show where The Antagonist is planning on unleashing armageddon upon the entire universe, setting himself up as the Master of all creation, this line is quite possibly the most arrogant thing I’ve ever heard. Breathtakingly so. To quote C.S. Lewis for a moment (thanks to
ezagaaikwe):One part of the claim tends to slip past us unnoticed because we have heard it so often that we no longer see what it amounts to. I mean the claim to forgive sins: any sin. Now unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toe and I forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man, himself unrobbed and untrodden on, who announced that he forgave you for treading on other men's toes and stealing other men's money? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give of his conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did.
For The Doctor to claim such a God-like position is... well words fail me. Except of course it’s not really about that, is it. It is about the two of them, and the relationship between them:
“Who is The Master?”
“He is my sworn arch-enemy, a fiend who glories in chaos and destruction.”
“Do you know any nice people? You know, ordinary people - not power crazed nutters who are trying to take over the galaxy?”
Seventh Doctor and Ace (I think)
Arch-enemies are always trying to out-do each other. Which is why The Master cannot kill The Doctor - he needs him to be there, to witness his triumph... (I love that The Master plays I Can’t Decide - the metaness of it is delightful). The thing is of course, that The Doctor with three words makes all of The Master’s plans futile. He slaughtered millions of people - planned on a galaxy wide blood bath - and The Doctor ‘ain’t bothered’. Look at Spike and Angel f.ex... Spike gets under Angel’s skin, and always has. That gives him power over the other (see the mineshaft scene for the perfect example). But The Master cannot win that way.
I of course touched on the subject of forgiveness before, and I love how it mirrors in these two characters - it is the one thing The Doctor wants more than anything, but cannot have, and it is the worst thing The Master could imagine. It implies that he is - could be - sorry. Could truly regret his actions. And that never enters into it. To quote AtS:
Illyria (to Angel): You learn to destroy everything that's not utterly yours. All that matters is victory. That's how your reign persists. You're a slave to an insane construct. You are moral. A true ruler is as moral as a hurricane, empty but for the force of his gale. If you want to win a war, you must serve no master but your ambition.
‘Time Bomb’
It occurs to me that Illyria and The Master would be the most formidable partnership... there should be fic. Just imagine the possibilities...
Anyway, going back to what I said above about The Master seeing his insanity as a calling, we see that he applies this to his entire outlook: He kills the cabinet for ‘betraying’ their parties, even though he himself to a large extent was responsible for their actions. The fact that he’s insane does not, in his world view, in any way absolve him of his sins.
Anyway, forgiving The Master is also in many ways the most cruel thing The Doctor can do - and he knows it. I’m reminded of Faith and Angel at the end of ‘Five by Five’... except The Master isn’t a little girl. The Master is evil, The Master has killed millions with a smile on his face. By forgiving him, The Doctor makes it ‘not count’... and also of course sets himself up as being *above* The Master.
ETA: It can certainly be argued that everything The Master did was designed to hurt The Doctor. And then it gets brushed off just like that. (Sorry - try harder...) Interestingly, by The Doctor's reaction to The Master's suicide, it would seem that he loves The Master more than all of humanity... because, I think, in The Master is contained everything The Doctor has lost. Oh, except... Rose! I'd love to know how she would have changed the equation. If she'd been around, and The Master had killed her - would The Doctor have been able to forgive him? Hmmm...
Moving forwards, we get a moment that I adore...
“So you’re just going to... keep me?”
Whereas I don’t particularly see the slashiness in the pairing (The Doctor doesn’t really do sex), that line is just nudging on the line line between subtext and text in the most wonderful way. :) But then came this:
“Maybe I’ve been wandering for long enough.”
And I knew that something was going to happen. The Doctor is The Lonely Wanderer. You cannot change that. Ergo, something was up. And then - bang!
Of course it parallels the shooting by Prof. Yana’s assistant very nicely, and The Master choosing to die is excellent. But... having re-watched the ep quite a few times, I have theory. I’m not saying that it is better than going with what we see, and it is possible that it has been discussed all over fandom. In which case I apologise.
Aaaanyway - I think he did it on purpose!
First I thought about the whole ‘he’s a hypnotist’ and that he made Lucy do it, but no... watching carefully I think there’s something else going on. Because this line of The Doctor’s jumped out at me:
Doctor: As if I would ask her to kill.
The Doctor would never ask that of Martha... but I think The Master would have no problem using his companion in that way. And remember what Timelords can do. From ‘The Girl in the Fireplace’:
DOCTOR: Reinette, you're going to have to trust me. I need to find out what they're looking for, there's only one way I can do that. Won't hurt a bit.
[Reinette nods her assent and the Doctor places his fingers on her temples and closes her eyes. Reinette also closes hers.]
REINETTE (after a moment): Fireplace man... you are inside my mind.
DOCTOR: Oh dear, Reinette. You've had some cowboys in here.
[...]
REINETTE: To walk among the memories of another living soul... do you ever get used to this?
DOCTOR: I don't make a habit of it.
REINETTE: How can you resist?
It would not at all surprise me if The Master had used his powers on Lucy. Right after the ‘Are you just going to keep me?’ line he closes his eyes and tilts his head back... and moments later Lucy shoots him - looking utterly devastated.
So I think that this was his way of getting out, his contingency plan. He probably had the ring fixed to contain him or... something. Maybe. Timelords, you know what they’re like. Because he knew that once he was trapped in the TARDIS there’d be no getting out - just look at what The Doctor did to the Family of Blood. Not that he’d be that cruel to The Master of course, but he would have the means to make sure he could never, ever get away. So I think The Master took the only way out that he could find. And in the process broke The Doctor’s heart (bonus!). The reason I like this theory is that it stops The Master being an opportunistic victim and makes him a total Grade A bastard. Which is exactly what he is of course! He has been killing people and making evil schemes with a song in his heart for centuries, and he’ll never, ever be sorry for that. There will never come a point where he’ll take that ‘I forgive you’ - he cannot be redeemed!
But getting back to my theory, we even have this:
The Master: Always the women.
The Doctor: I didn’t say that.
No - he didn’t. That was The Master establishing his alibi. Did I mention the insane evil genius thing? *g*
“I’m dying in your arms... happy now?”
Ye Gods above, what a line! I mean... just wow. I think RTD must be the shippiest TV writer on the planet! And of course The Doctor falls apart... (he runs SO FAST when The Master gets shot. So very, very fast that he manages to catch him before he falls... it breaks my heart in too many ways to count.)
“Who about that... I win!”
And The Master finally found out what was unforgivable - how to hurt The Doctor...
ETA: From 'Dalek' (1.06), after the last Dalek commits suicide:
ROSE: Is that the end of it? The Time War?
DOCTOR: I'm the only one left. I win. How about that.
I nearly fainted when I re-watched that ep. The continuity of this show is insanely good and brilliant. And it breaks my heart.
And this is of course why I love it so - this whole complex web of history and interactions and feelings... love of course fits in there, but when one of them is insane and evil, it twists things. The Master wants The Doctor to care! They’re arch-nemeses after all - they care deeply about what the other thinks and feels. Look at Buffy and Spike in ‘Smashed’, or Spike and Angel in ‘Destiny’... the words cut far deeper than the physical blows. That’s the point.
And The Doctor begging The Master to regenerate is one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve ever seen...
Doctor: There is no one else!
Oh my poor, poor Doctor. So very, very lonely...
And... I can’t help but compare this to ‘Doomsday’ - because I think this hits him harder. Because Rose was something far different to him:
Doctor: So, that's the trap. Or the test or the final judgement, I don't know. But if I kill you, I kill her. [...] Except that implies - in this big grand scheme of Gods and Devils - that she's just a victim. But I've seen a lot of this universe. I've seen fake gods and bad gods and demi gods and would-be gods - out of all that - out of that whole pantheon - if I believe in one thing... just one thing... (with passion) I believe in her.
‘The Satan Pit’
Going back to Buffy verse parallels, in this case The Doctor is Angel (or Spike) and Rose is Buffy. Someone brilliant and wonderful that he loves just because she’s her. Someone to have faith in. Someone who miraculously turns out to be a kindred spirit, despite all the things that separate them. And also - someone The Doctor knew he was going to lose, sooner or later. That tragedy was in-built. But The Master is someone like himself. Like Spike and Angel are mirrors to each other - understanding each other because they are the same, no matter the differences (“Once upon a time...”).
The Master might be an insane megalomaniac, but he was The Doctor’s insane megalomaniac. Their similarities far outweighed their differences... The last of the Timelords - the only two who could remember their home, who knew what it meant to see all of time and space... what it was like to feel like God.
And yet - all those powers are for nothing in that last scene. The Doctor can do many things, but he cannot fight death. We have the God-themes woven through the whole season, and then in the end The Doctor is shown to be just like us. Helpless in the face of nature.
He failed. Again.
“I’m not here to kill him. I’m here to save him.”
And the twist is of course that The Master refuses to be saved.
I was reminded of this, from Utopia:
Regenerated!Master (inside the TARDIS): Use my name!
The Doctor: Master... (then softly, almost pleadingly) I’m sorry.
The Master (gleefully): Tough!
That moment is The Doctor asking forgiveness for killing their people and destroying their home. And The Master (not really knowing what The Doctor is talking about), brushes it off. Later however, he uses it against him, refusing to forgive him:
Master: Once the Empire is established, and there is a new Gallifrey in the heavens, maybe then - it stops.
Very clearing saying: You destroyed our home. And you should feel guilty!
And I just realised that The Doctor’s “I”m sorry” at the end of ‘Utopia’ is echoed in ‘Last of the Timelords’:
Doctor: I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.
Master: You can’t do this. You can’t do this! It’s not fair!
Doctor: And you know what happens now.
Master. No. No. No. NO!
Doctor: You wouldn’t listen. You know what I’m going to say.
I don’t think the ‘I’m sorry’ is just about the ‘I forgive you’... Because where the first sorry was asking forgiveness for what he had destroyed - their home and history - then this sorry is a pre-emptive apology. Because The Doctor is about to undo all of The Master’s work... all his plans, including a new Gallifrey. Destroying his future. Maybe that lies at the heart of the forgiveness - The Doctor understands The Master’s motivations, just like The Master understands The Doctor’s. And to get religious for a moment:
‘Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.’
To be forgiven yourself, you have to be able to forgive others. But - until the last The Master withholds forgiveness. And if he kills himself on purpose - as a way of escaping (which means that The Doctor was right about him) - or if he quite simply grabs the chance to hurt The Doctor in the only way he can (and he wants to win, more than to stay alive), doesn’t really matter to be honest. Both options fit, and both leave The Doctor broken.
I’ll end by quoting
scarlettgirl again:He just seems so tired of losing what little he clings to over and over again. I don't know how he can come back from this and fall back into the happy-go-lucky scamp mode that a good chunk of fandom seems to prefer.
I’m sure this woman is psychic or something. Because the above quote perfectly describes the end of the show - The Doctor trying to be all jolly and excited, and Martha silencing him with just a look.
ETA: Re-watching 'Smith and Jones' I noticed that The Doctor was wearing the same blue suit then as he is at the end of LotT. And Florence says this:
"You're quite the funny man. And yet, I think, laughing on purpose at the darkness."
I wonder where he’ll go from here. Because if there is one thing I’ve learned from watching Buffy, it is the fact that there are always consequences. Always.
And I think Doctor Who knows that rule.
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He calls the Toglofane ‘his friends’, and talks of them as his offspring:
Master: Down you go kids!
Master: My children - are you ready?
Of course he also does it so he can use them to take over the universe... ;)
::cough:: I don't think so. Where did those pitiful dregs of humanity get the technology, never mind know-how to transform themselves into pseudo-Daleks? Gee, who had a time machine, was an evil genius, and was in the general vicinity?
The Master.
I think he was their figurative father, giving them the means to transform themselves into the human equivalent of Daleks, and then, when that didn't work, provide them a means of escape. I think it was all aimed at getting back at the Doctor - making his pet species into the species he feared and hated most, destroying and enslaving the un-altered humans while the Doctor watched. Ruling the universe? Just a bonus.
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Hmmm... I obviously didn't explain my POV properly (which is not surprising since this thing is so *enormous*. I've edited and edited, and then just got fed up and decided to post). I actually very nearly added a bit to my LoTR bit, comparing the Toglofane to the Uruk-hai. A monstrous cross-breed.
I think it was all aimed at getting back at the Doctor - making his pet species into the species he feared and hated most, destroying and enslaving the un-altered humans while the Doctor watched. Ruling the universe? Just a bonus.
Win-win. :)
Thank you for reading and your point is v. good! (Sorry for being brief, am running out the door to pick up children.)
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1. The end of The Runaway Bride -- the scene with the flames is overlaid on the Doctor's face very similarly to the end of LotTL. More fuel for the fire imagery. I'm amazed they had the nerve to show that scene on Christmas, myself. The wacky-funny first half doesn't really lessen the gut-punch of the ending, to me.
2. Lucy/Martha parallels with the gun -- I kept trying to write some meta about Lucy's characterization as everyone was arguing abused victim vs fellow nutcase. The issue I see is that her characterization keeps getting changed over the eps because she's narratively a foil for Martha and/or the Doctor, and thus the characterization varies. (This also, to me, makes for the argument that the Master, for whatever psychotic reason, actually was in love with Lucy -- because the Doctor *doesn't* love Martha that way, and the contrast is intentional.) In the scenes people are arguing are evidence for her being the victim of an abusive relationship, I think she's a foil for the Doctor, instead, because there's no way they could portray the relationship between the Doctor and the Master as that ugly -- torturing Jack is ok by family TV standards because he's invulnerable physically and his characterization is such that he seems not to suffer emotional trauma, and while wife-beating is a horrible, horrible thing,
it's something they can imply (subtly) on a show like this. Bruises on the Doctor, esp. if the ep got any more subtexty-slashy, would push past the general viewer's comfort level. (Fandom is happy to go there, generally.)
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the scene with the flames is overlaid on the Doctor's face very similarly to the end of LotTL. More fuel for the fire imagery.
Oh yes! Love that scene! It was definitely the moment when Ten became *my* Doctor. Thanks for pointing it out - it is awkward writing meta on a show I don't know inside out. (on the other hand it could easily have been twice the length...)
I kept trying to write some meta about Lucy's characterization as everyone was arguing abused victim vs fellow nutcase.
Now that's interesting, because not actually being in the DW fandom, I've not seen any of these arguments.
the Master, for whatever psychotic reason, actually was in love with Lucy -- because the Doctor *doesn't* love Martha that way, and the contrast is intentional
Oh I always saw Lucy as The Master's Rose (see this post). We even have the line in 'Sound of Drums' where she says how kind he was to her father... the parallels are just overwhelming.
I think she's a foil for the Doctor, instead, because there's no way they could portray the relationship between the Doctor and the Master as that ugly
Hmmm. I don't think she's 'abused'... I think The Master is quite simply not capable of loving someone properly - or maybe unable to stop himself from hurting those he loves, to prove that they care...
Bruises on the Doctor, esp. if the ep got any more subtexty-slashy, would push past the general viewer's comfort level.
Family show and all that... (I'm a Buffy fan where they - much to my delight - generally didn't shy away from the violence.)
Fandom is happy to go there, generally.
Of course! :)
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It would not at all surprise me if The Master had used his powers on Lucy.
I'd been wondering if it had been pre-planned between them somehow in case things went wrong but it makes more sense if he'd used his powers on her. The idea that Lucy is named after Lucy in the Narnia stories is shiveringly dark because of course that Lucy stepped into a wardrobe that was bigger on the inside than the outside and eventually sees the end of the world she discovered there, and this Lucy steps into the TARDIS, also bigger on the inside than the outside, and sees the end of the Universe.
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Thank you! Although it stalled DD *again*! Will do my very best to polish off Chapter 7 asap. (sigh) But what am I supposed to do when stuff this shiny shows up?
I particularly liked the Gandalf and Saruman parallel between the Doctor and the Master, which just seems to fit so well.
Doesn't it just? And all just in one throw-away line. This show really is the new Buffy! :)
I'd been wondering if it had been pre-planned between them somehow in case things went wrong but it makes more sense if he'd used his powers on her.
I think it might be a bit of both... he's probably walked around in her head (because he *could*) and then in that moment said something like: 'Kill me. Then find my ring.' At least I think that's how my theory goes...
Lucy stepped into a wardrobe that was bigger on the inside than the outside
I never thought about that!!!!! That's excellent! And yes - end of the world... Of course in the Narnia books this world is shown just to have been the start, and everything that's happened affected eternity. The opposite of Lucy Saxon's conclusion. (What is it the other Lucy says? 'Once in our world there was also a shed that contained something bigger than the whole world'? Those religious themes just *keep* popping up! :)
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^_^. Here's my little 2 bit piece:
In the first episode, the "vampire" alien saids, "Burn with me" just as she is exterminated. And that phrase was used again in "42" by the character infused with the spirit of the Sun.
Here's a thought: There were furnaces in at the end of time, everything burning up, and references to time being a "ball of time-wimey-wibbly-wobbly stuff"; if the Master had not intervened and changed the last of humanity, a possiblity that Humans evolved and became living suns, like that in "42", thus regenerating the universe by being something new. Very circular thinking, but I feel the thread does lead in the direction. ^_^
Once again, wonderfully intutive discussion of the interactions of the Master and the Doctor.
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Thank you! :) And I'm so pleased to have restored your faith! That's sorta my fannish MO - look at all the shiny parts, because they make the not-shiny stuff not matter.
In the first episode, the "vampire" alien saids, "Burn with me" just as she is exterminated. And that phrase was used again in "42" by the character infused with the spirit of the Sun.
Oooooh! *bounces* That's wonderful! I am so used to writing Buffy 'verse meta, where I know everything like the back of my hand (and have videos & DVDs & transcripts), that writing this has been really odd. So any contributions are very, very welcome! :)
a possiblity that Humans evolved and became living suns, like that in "42", thus regenerating the universe by being something new. Very circular thinking, but I feel the thread does lead in the direction. ^_^
I've not heard that before - that's fascinating. Will have to mull it over.
Once again, wonderfully intutive discussion of the interactions of the Master and the Doctor.
They just kinda ate my head... I've not been this intrigued by a couple in *years*! They managed to hit like *all* of my kink buttons, but in a wholly new way. So I just had to share... :)
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On that subject of the reoccurring references to fire/burning, it all ties back to The End of the World, when the Doctor brings Rose back from Platform One.
Doctor: You think it'll last forever, the people and cars and concrete. But it won't. One day it's all gone, even the sky. My planet's gone. It's dead. It burned like the Earth. It's rocks and dust before its time.
The Doctor didn't just destroy Gallifrey--he incinerated it, fully expecting to die in the fire as well. From Dalek:
Diana Goddard: It fell to earth on the Ascension islands, burned in its crater for three days before anyone could get near it and the whole time it was screaming. Must have gone insane.
The Doctor: It must have fallen through time, the only survivor.
Diana Goddard: You talked about a war?
The Doctor: The Time War, the final battle between my people and the Dalek race.
Henry Van Statten: But you survived too.
The Doctor: Not by choice.
There's a bit of religious subtext here; for the Doctor, the fires were meant to be cleansing, wiping out his past sin of failing to destroy the Daleks when he had the chance by literally throwing himself (and his people) on the pyre. Only, as with most slash and burn retreat tactics, it didn't destroy the enemy or discourage them, it just set them back for a time. A phyrric victory, only with the black twist of not being a true victory after all. It seems poetic (and I wouldn't put it past RTD to make the tie-in) that the Doctor's regeneration in PotW was caused by fire, the Time Vortex burning him from the inside out.
Actually, now I think about it, many of the Doctor's closest brushes with death all through the new series have been by fire--the molten plastic of the Nestene, the solar radiation on Platform One, the explosion of the gas to destroy the Gelth, the missile in WWIII, the bomb in The Doctor Dances (although, arguably that one brushed way closer to Jack than the Doctor), burning with the absorption of the Vortex, the encounters in The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit (the black hole being surrounded by a ring of burning matter just before it's consumed, and the Beast being enshrouded in flame, smoke, and brimstone), being possessed by the living star in 42, not to mention his perpetual fondness for explosions (methinks Ace rubbed off on him just a bit). It seems, from my perspective anyway, that he's chasing the fire, attempting to find a way to be consumed in the same manner as his people.
Tying in to that is the inevitable Phoenix imagery--fire as rebirth and renewal. After regenerating from Nine to Ten, the Doctor became more youthful, and (until he lost Rose) a lot of the weight of his past actions was lifted from his shoulders. Even after getting shot, the Master chooses to go up in a ball of flame, and emerges young and bouncy. Knowing the Master (because those two just manage to get into each other's heads so beautifully), he was counting on the Doctor starting that funeral pyre at the end of TLoTT, facilitating his coming back some other way.
As for the Lucy thing, I was actually reminded of the character of Lucy in the musical Jekyll & Hyde. Although Lucy in J&H is a jaded prostitute, she's essentially a good woman who ends up being consumed by her darker impulses, as embodied by her disastrous affair with and eventual murder by Hyde. In our Lucy's case, she's drawn in to Harry's insanity (arguably, she was more than a touch insane to begin with, which only exacerbates her situation) and is consumed by it, becoming a shadow and a puppet to the Master. There's more than a little love for him on her part, which just makes it that tiny touch more tragic. Plus which, one of Hyde's lines about Lucy in J&H is also terribly appropriate to Lucy/Harry.
Hyde: Lucy, you'll never escape me. I'm here, I fear, and you will pay dear, my dear.
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Yay! I love it when that happens. :) Thinking good!
The Doctor didn't just destroy Gallifrey--he incinerated it, fully expecting to die in the fire as well.
Oh... I'd forgotten that line! That's gorgeous. (And terrible of course.)
There's a bit of religious subtext here; for the Doctor, the fires were meant to be cleansing, wiping out his past sin of failing to destroy the Daleks when he had the chance by literally throwing himself (and his people) on the pyre.
I like it. Very nice. All in all I feel like a kid in a candy store - I've been watching for 3 years now, only looking on DW as entertainment, and then 'Sound of Drums' hit me over the head with all the layers and since then I see meta where ever I look. It's almost like falling in love... :)
that the Doctor's regeneration in PotW was caused by fire, the Time Vortex burning him from the inside out.
*nods* That's how I've always seen it.
It seems, from my perspective anyway, that he's chasing the fire, attempting to find a way to be consumed in the same manner as his people.
That is wonderful. I'll have to think that over more, but yes it makes perfect sense.
Knowing the Master (because those two just manage to get into each other's heads so beautifully), he was counting on the Doctor starting that funeral pyre at the end of TLoTT, facilitating his coming back some other way.
Mmmmm... yes. That could work. (I *knew* fire imagery was important! It's always about the fire!)
I was actually reminded of the character of Lucy in the musical Jekyll & Hyde
I'm not familiar with that musical, but those are some very nifty parallels.
Thank you so much for your comment - so much food for thought! :)
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Yes - both are great. Thank you for trying to put your thoughts on paper, which has helped me to putt together a few of my threads about the two great storylines.
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It's all of my favourite themes, but explored in completely new ways! It's brilliant!
Thank you for trying to put your thoughts on paper
My pleasure! (And I kinda *had* to do it, because otherwise my head would have exploded or something...) So glad it was helpful for you. And thank you for reading! :)
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By the way what do you think of the Weevils in "Torchwood"?
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Thank you. I felt rather clever when I thought of it! ;)
By the way what do you think of the Weevils in "Torchwood"?
Nothing much, I'm afraid. They're like feral vampires or something... Torchwood doesn't inspire much meta. *holds out hope*
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Was it the 'Fight Club' episode? Something about raw power and pure instincts and all that... Hmmm.
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I thought it could have been a clue, given that Torchwood and Dr Who basically share the same 'verse.
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I cant actually remember how exactly I stumbled across this page, but i'm so glad I did ♥
I would love to write something brilliant and insightful in response, but right now i'm just going to have to try and aim for coherent! This is possibly the best meta i've ever read. I'm a new DW fan, and I just finished season 3 (and have been watching the final three eps almost obsessively over the past week), and although I recognised how dark they were thematically, i'm stunned at everything you saw in them and how deep they truly go.
I'm a massive BtvS/AtS fan, and i've been talking with my sister a lot about which show we each prefer or think is better. I was insisting that DW could never go quite as deep or be as thematically brilliant as Buffy, but this essay pretty much blows that theory out of the water!
All your stuff about the Doctor as God, and the gravity/implications of the 'I forgive you' line... its all just brilliant :) Some of your insights literally took my breath away ♥
Thankyou so much for writing this! Also, do you mind if I friend you? I don't update my LJ much but I comment enough on my friends' journals to make up for it ♥
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Hee! Thank you! :)
This is possibly the best meta i've ever read.
Really? *is awfully flattered*
although I recognised how dark they were thematically, i'm stunned at everything you saw in them and how deep they truly go.
The more I looked, the more I saw... and even now I see new things I want to add...
but this essay pretty much blows that theory out of the water!
Oooh, that's a v. interesting thing to say - because until 'Sound of Drums' I never thought that DW could *ever* be anywhere near as deep as BtVS/AtS. And honestly - I think that to a certain degree that is still true. (Seriously, I'm sure my Buffy verse meta could reach up to the moon. Just follow the tags on the sidebar if you're curious. ) The thing is that Doctor Who very often goes for the very simple metaphors (due to having to be child friendly I suppose), and it never really piqued my meta-interest until The Master showed up. Also there's the fact that only now is there really enough show to actually be able to see such things as long term themes and storylines etc.
All your stuff about the Doctor as God, and the gravity/implications of the 'I forgive you' line... its all just brilliant :) Some of your insights literally took my breath away
::beams:: One thing about all this is of course that it tapped right into a lot of the stuff I loved about AtS. Which also made me realise that DW is more like AtS than BtVS - The Doctor is very Angel-like in a lot of ways, which is an utter delight.
I think the thing is that DW can be utterly pants ('Daleks in Manhattan' anyone?) or just fun entertainment ('Love and Monsters' f.ex.), but it also has the potential to be as deeply layered and thematically rich as anything else out there. :)
And thank you for the friending. I ramble a lot, but I hope you don't mind...
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My pleasure! :D
"Oooh, that's a v. interesting thing to say - because until 'Sound of Drums' I never thought that DW could *ever* be anywhere near as deep as BtVS/AtS. And honestly - I think that to a certain degree that is still true."
Oh trust me, I do agree with that. I'm doing a Law/Communications(film) course at university right now and I cant tell you how many times i've handed in essays on Buffyverse simply because it is just so brilliant, layered and complicatedly thematic that you can just talk for hours about it. Basically, the Buffy v DW arguments came about because my sister fell in love with David Tennant and suddenly thought DW was the better show :P But I was saying Buffy all the way - until I read this post! I thought the Master/Doctor relationship and the final few episodes were incredibly deep and complex, but I had a slightly different take on the finale than you did. When I read yours though, I was stunned! I didn't realise just HOW deep it really went.
(My first impressions were more about survivors guilt. The Doctor, above all, needs forgiveness for Gallifrey, and in a different way, the Master does too. He didn't bring about the death of two species so to speak. But he ran away. He was scared, ran away, and has now woken up to a world where everybody he cared about died - while he survived solely because when it mattered, he was a coward. So I thought the 'I forgive you' was coming from the Doctor's understanding that the Master needed to be forgiven to snap him out of his 'evilness' and restore some of his humanity... sort of like Xander embracing Evil!Willow at the end of season 6. In instances where someone has gone way over the edge like the Master did, particularly if their actions stem from a place of self-loathing (which would fit if he's feeling guilty about 'running away') then the act of forgiveness might be enough to totally break that person. If you listen carefully, you can hear the Master making a muffled, crying sound while the Doctor is hugging him, before he regains his composure and orders his 'children' to protect the paradox. (Of course, that was my impression before I knew anything about the Classic series Master, and therefore had no idea that he had been very evil for a very long time) :P
Still, there I was thinking, "wow, how deep is that - younger viewers will just assume he's just 'forgiving' the Master's present crimes, but really it goes so much deeper!" Like i said, my jaw hit the ground when I read your interpretation! :P
So yes, I think the Master storyline gives BtvS a run for its money - but aside from that, it has to be a lot more simplistic due to the fact that its a family show. Still, one of the things I loved about season 3 was that kids could watch it and laugh, be entertained, and pick up on the surface metaphors. But underneath that, there were some really dark themes and undertones that adults could relish but kids would be totally oblivious to. Episodes like Gridlock have a lot more going on than meets the eye. Someone somewhere on lj mentioned the fact that those cars stuck driving round in a lonely, endless cycle from which there is no escape or hope, are shaped like grey Tardis' lying on their side. Symbolism for s3 Doctor much?? ;)
Which also made me realise that DW is more like AtS than BtVS - The Doctor is very Angel-like in a lot of ways, which is an utter delight.
Oh i know! I adored AtS, probably even more than BtvS by the end, and I love the similarities between the characters/shows. Although, there are still a lot of similarities with Buffy too. I'm about to embark on a 6000 word Law assessment focusing on the ethics and morality of the Law (should one person have ultimate power; can you disobey laws against murder if you're doing it for the greater good; and lots of other philosophical legal/ethics questions) and i'm going to spend the entire 6000 words analysing those issues in the Buffy/Angel/DoctorWho-verses ♥ Linking them all, drawing comparisons/contrasts... i'm SO excited :D
I ramble a lot, but I hope you don't mind...
Heh. *looks up* In case you cant tell by now, I sort of have the same problem... :P
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Oh I am so very jealous. I have nothing but obsession to blame for my essays... ;)
the Buffy v DW arguments came about because my sister fell in love with David Tennant and suddenly thought DW was the better show :P
Hee. That explains a lot. (Although we must keep in mind the old argument that we only love Buffy because of Spike's abs and are clearly sad and drooling fangirls without a single logical thought in our little heads... heh.)
But I was saying Buffy all the way - until I read this post!
I was saying Buffy all the way until I saw 'Sound of Drums', when I realised that DW had the capacity to be as good as Buffy. But when it's bad, it's *dire*...
My first impressions were more about survivors guilt.
Now that is a *fascinating* idea. OK, it's obvious in The Doctor's case, but I'd not considered it from The Master's POV before. Thank you - that's a wonderful insight.
Someone somewhere on lj mentioned the fact that those cars stuck driving round in a lonely, endless cycle from which there is no escape or hope, are shaped like grey Tardis' lying on their side. Symbolism for s3 Doctor much?? ;)
I'd not thought about that. Neat. :)
I love the similarities between the characters/shows. Although, there are still a lot of similarities with Buffy too.
Well obviously! And - unlike Angel - the Doctor doesn't have 140 years of pure evil to atone for...
Linking them all, drawing comparisons/contrasts... i'm SO excited :D
No wonder. Have fun! :) I - when I find the time - will hopefully get round to writing down my thoughts on Prof Yana and how The Master *does* shine through in various ways.
Heh. *looks up* In case you cant tell by now, I sort of have the same problem... :P
Great minds and all that, huh? Nice to have you here! :)
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Somebody else has probably already mentioned this, but I couldn't help but notice that you attributed the 'serenity prayer' to St. Francis of Assisi, when authorship is usually attributed to the 20th century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, possibly as early as 1934. That same Wikipedia article mentions at the very end that the mistaken attribution of the prayer to St. Francis comes from a movie and a novel. Of course, even the prayer which I thought was indisputably attributed to St. Francis (Lord, make me an instrument of your peace...) turns out to be of likely 20th century authorship, so who am I to talk? At least he's still definitely believed to be the author of Canticle of the Sun, the basis for the English hymn "All Creatures of Our God and King", which makes me feel a little better about the things I thought I knew of ol' St. Francis.
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Thank you. I look forward to your thoughts.
but I couldn't help but notice that you attributed the 'serenity prayer' to St. Francis of Assisi, when authorship is usually attributed to the 20th century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, possibly as early as 1934.
Oh dear. *is a baaaaad Catholic* Must fix that. Thank you lots - and what would we do without Wiki?
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And I'm reminded of 'Journey's End' and the parallels between the Doctor and the Master -
Dalek Caan: The Doctor's soul is finally revealed. See him. See the heart of him.
Davros: The man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun. But this is the truth, Doctor. You take ordinary people and you fashion them into weapons. Behold your Children of Time transformed into murderers. I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this.
I like your point that it is their right to shape the universe - time and space itself and I wonder if there's a point to be made about interference. Both the Doctor and the Master shaped humanity into weapons and though their motivation was very different, the outcome was not so different. Perhaps the essential nature of the Time Lord always inevitably leads to fire and destruction. Like time itself.
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Well, I thoroughly enjoyed your analysis - particularly the way you made links between the earlier episodes.
Thank you! :) And if there are links to be made, I will make them. (I guess you can see what I meant about this being a rabbit hole though. I start and just keep going...)
And I'm reminded of 'Journey's End' and the parallels between the Doctor and the Master
Oh yes, excellent point. (I do love the fact that the show doesn't shy away from pointing out the Doctor's flaws.)
Perhaps the essential nature of the Time Lord always inevitably leads to fire and destruction. Like time itself.
Hmmm. I think that is a very good point, and one I have (in fic) tied into the fact that the Time Lords had such a very off-hand approach to the universe. Because they knew what interference would inevitably lead to, considering their powers...
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in the end The Doctor is shown to be just like us. Helpless in the face of nature.
He failed. Again.
Yes.
Lots to think about.
Thank you so much.
(I need to re-watch the third season!!)
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ISN'T IT JUST? I watched through S1 and 2, because it was a fun show, and something I could watch with the kids, and because occasionally it was brilliant. S3 had some pretty awful episodes (Daleks in Manhattan!), but halfway through it suddenly got *good*, and then those last three eps just blew me away. This was the result! Om nom nom, meta ate my head! :)
He failed. Again.
Yes.
You know, I think this might influence what he does to Donna - he so desperately needs people not to die.
Lots to think about.
*beams* I love the layers on this show. Oh! And since I'm here, some recs! (Can't help myself...)
Fic:
The Naming of Things (How to become the Master). The fic exploring the Doctor (Theta) and the Master (Koschei) when they were young, and how they became who they are. Very long, but *incredibly* rewarding.
Vids:
Vom selben Stern. A German vid (with subtitles!). I just adore it, and can't really explain why.
Space Dementia. The Doctor/Master vid. Incredible. (Can't for the life of me remember who made it.)
And, to end on a lighter note: Skullcrusher Mountain! Enjoy! ;)
Oh! And to end on the lowest note possible, a series of macros that take the subtext of the phonecall in Sound of Drums and just runs with it! Probably nsfw!
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Are those names canon?
How do Time Lord names work, anyway? I thought we didn't know the Doctor's real name?
(Also...besides taking 8-year-olds to look into the Vortex, what else do we know about Time Lord child-rearing and Time Lord childhood?)
Vids:
Vom selben Stern. A German vid (with subtitles!). I just adore it, and can't really explain why.
Oh, very compelling!! I like it a lot!!
And, to end on a lighter note: Skullcrusher Mountain! Enjoy! ;)
I love these glimpses I'm getting on the vids of Old Who. I really need to watch some!
Oh! And to end on the lowest note possible, a series of macros that take the subtext of the phonecall in Sound of Drums and just runs with it!
LOL!! That's hilarious!!
Thank you so much for all the links!!!!
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Yes and no. We know that the Doctor's (nick)name at school was Theta Sigma (4th Doctor mentioned this), but Koschei is fanon (since we know next to nothing about the Master's childhood - hence the whole of fandom flailing and squeeing at the mention of his father's estates, and the fact that he and the Doctor used to play there, in EoT). Koschei (as far as I can work out) has been bestowed on him by fandom thanks to the legends of Koschei the Deathless. It certainly fits.
How do Time Lord names work, anyway? I thought we didn't know the Doctor's real name?
We don't. But apparently they choose their own names, that people use, which I find *fascinating*.
(Also...besides taking 8-year-olds to look into the Vortex, what else do we know about Time Lord child-rearing and Time Lord childhood?)
Ummm. Nnnnot a lot. Hence a million fanfics filling in the blanks. Reinette talks about the Doctor's childhood being a lonely one, and generally I don't think they were a very cuddly race. (There's also the whole thing about genetic looms, but that's on the fuzzy edges of canon, so... Tricky business.)
Oh, very compelling!! I like it a lot!!
*beams* I've loved it ever since I first saw it. It's partly the music, and partly the lyrics I think.
I love these glimpses I'm getting on the vids of Old Who. I really need to watch some!
That's how I feel too! I know that there's a fair bit of the First Doctor on youtube, but other than that I'm not sure.
LOL!! That's hilarious!!
Glad you approve! Not surprisingly there's REAMS of smutty fic written about those two. *g*
Thank you so much for all the links!!!!
Oh my pleasure. I've got plenty more where those came from...
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YES!!!
Koschei (as far as I can work out) has been bestowed on him by fandom thanks to the legends of Koschei the Deathless. It certainly fits.
Fascinating!!!
We don't. But apparently they choose their own names, that people use, which I find *fascinating*.
So...they have given names which they almost never tell anyone, but they CHOOSE the name they're called by? So the Doctor's real name, which we don't know, was given to him, but he CHOSE to call himself "The Doctor" and the Master CHOSE to call himself "The Master" - am I understanding correctly?
FASCINATING!!!!!
Reinette talks about the Doctor's childhood being a lonely one, and generally I don't think they were a very cuddly race.
I do get that distinct impression!
(There's also the whole thing about genetic looms, but that's on the fuzzy edges of canon, so... Tricky business.)
From what I've read (admittedly, very little!) it seems like the looms should really not be considered canon.
We do have so many brief, tantalizing glimpses into the Doctor's childhood.
It also seems like Time Lord child psychology is not too different from human child psychology.
That's how I feel too! I know that there's a fair bit of the First Doctor on youtube, but other than that I'm not sure.
Have you not seen much of Old Who, either?
Glad you approve! Not surprisingly there's REAMS of smutty fic written about those two. *g*
I don't think the smutty fic would be my cuppa tea, but I did enjoy the macros!
Oh my pleasure. I've got plenty more where those came from...
Three separate reactions to that:
1. YAY!!! MORE LINKS!!!
2. I am taking up way too much of elisi's time. *guilt*
3. Elisi is fabulous!!!! Thank you so much Elisi!!!!!!!!!
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Isn't it just? I love fanon. :)
So...they have given names which they almost never tell anyone, but they CHOOSE the name they're called by? So the Doctor's real name, which we don't know, was given to him, but he CHOSE to call himself "The Doctor" and the Master CHOSE to call himself "The Master" - am I understanding correctly?
I think that's how it works:
SAXON: Doctor.
DOCTOR: Master.
SAXON: I like it when you use my name.
DOCTOR: You chose it. Psychiatrist’s field day.
SAXON: As you chose yours. The man who makes people better. How sanctimonious is that?
(And their real names are obviously powerful - the Doctor used his to seal the rift at the Medusa Cascade, back when he was (in his own words) 'just a kid' of 97!)
From what I've read (admittedly, very little!) it seems like the looms should really not be considered canon.
No, New Who has got rid of them, in as much as they were ever there. Still, they're exceedingly entertaining as a concept. It's one of those Who-fandom things, where you can just say 'looms!' and everyone laughs. :)
It also seems like Time Lord child psychology is not too different from human child psychology.
It would seem so. (I've written fic about a Timelord child if you're interested? See how subtle-y I sneaked that in there?)
Have you not seen much of Old Who, either?
Nope. A few snippets of One, and a single story from Three's era.
I don't think the smutty fic would be my cuppa tea, but I did enjoy the macros!
No, they're not my thing either. But I do love the subtext!
Three separate reactions to that:
Awww. You're sweet! *squish* And don't worry about taking up my time, I'm *LOVING* this, and I'm worrying that I'm giving you too many links... (I'm already composing a list of S1 Torchwood vids that you ought to watch. And fic. Oh dear god, the fic. Torchwood has some of the best fic ever ever ever. So... I've got years' worth of stuff I want to share. *facepalm* ) Oh, and since I'm here, this vid is *brilliant*: Our Lord and Master (Tribute to the Master). :)